Secretary of State won't entertain funding requests until Stormont returns

The Secretary of State has said there will be no further "talk about funding" for Northern Ireland until the current Stormont stalemate comes to an end.

Chris Heaton-Harris set the Northern Ireland Budget this year due to a lack of functioning executive.

Following his announcement, civil servants warned that the current financial situation would leave them need to find around £800m through cuts and revenue-raising measures.

Mr Heaton-Harris spoke exclusively to UTV's Political Editor Tracey Magee following the closure of the latest round of political party talks aimed and ending deadlock.

You can hear the interview in full on the UTV Podcast.

The budget is usually set by the Stormont Executive, but it has not been established due to the DUP's ongoing boycott of the institutions as a result of their concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements.

"There's no money on the table in these conversations," said Mr Heaton-Harris.

"What we need to see is a Programme for Government because Northern Ireland has lacked one for a very long time."

He said, however, if an executive was formed and a Programme for Government was agreed, he would be willing to take future funding proposals to Treasury.

"If we get Stormont up and running, if we get a plan for government that the parties can sign up, if it's based on transforming public services so all communities in Northern Ireland can benefit from truly modern public services, if it is benchmarkable and I believe that these are all the things the parties are working towards, then yeah, of course, I'll take that to Treasury," said Mr Heaton-Harris.

"I'm not saying what the Treasury answer would be but I absolutely would."

The secretary of state said his currently "real emphasis is on getting clarity to get Stormont back".

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