The Chancellor’s Package: as many questions as there are noughts in the figures - UUP MLA
Commenting on the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s proposed financial package unveiled last night, UUP Finance Spokesperson Esmond Birnie MLA has said:
“While the headline figures quoted by the Treasury and NIO seem impressive – £35bn of current and capital spending over four years, and £18bn of capital spending over 12 years – they may not be all that remarkable on an annual basis. And, in any case, it is not clear what the baseline is – what would Northern Ireland have received in any case?
“There is one other very important question about yesterday’s meeting in Number 11 Downing Street. All the economic evidence suggests that no other single policy change would work such benefits on the economy, principally through encouragement to inward investment, as lower corporation tax.
“I therefore find it disturbing that the Chancellor seems to be leaning against that policy.
“The very fact that he wants to set up a ‘Corporation Tax office’ to explain to inward investors the cumulative effect of our existing package of incentives suggests, disturbingly:
* Invest NI is not already performing this task
* The existing ‘cocktail’ of incentives is too complex to be readily understood
* There is powerful evidence that a policy of R&D tax credits is not an adequate substitute for corporation tax reduction.
“For several generations now the Northern Ireland economy has lagged behind the rest of the UK in terms of levels of living standards and productivity. It would be a tragedy if yesterday’s meeting instead of being the start of a process leading of convergence was the point when an historic opportunity was missed.”