Financial Package cannot be brushed under carpet and forgotten about - Nicholson
Ulster Unionist Member of the European Parliament, Jim Nicholson MEP has warned today that a financial package for Northern Ireland cannot be brushed under the carpet by the First and Deputy First Minister and forgotten about.
Mr Nicholson was speaking as Sir David Varney; the man appointed by the Chancellor in March to lead a review of taxation in Northern Ireland is in the Province to discuss the issue of corporation tax.
In a statement Mr Nicholson said,
“Today is the second meeting of the power sharing Executive and yet still the final details of a financial package for Northern Ireland remain unresolved.
“Even as a Stormont committee heard yesterday that deferring water charges in Northern Ireland would cost £265m over the next three years, there is still no final indication as to how much a financial package will be worth or whether Northern Ireland is even getting one.
“Because securing a financial package is so important to Northern Ireland’s future economic success the issue is going to keep coming up again and again until we get results from the First and Deputy First Minister. They can’t simply brush it under the carpet and hope that it will be forgotten about. Leaving aside the well rehearsed arguments for a reduction in corporation tax, nothing is more important than Dr Paialey and Mr McGuinness delivering on this.
“It wasn’t so long ago that the First Minister was threatening not to enter and Executive at Stormont until he got a financial package that met his expectations. Now he must put his money where his mouth is and put an end to the charade that has been the Paisley/McGuinness negotiations with the Treasury, which to date have been characterised by spin and a host of false impressions. Perhaps collective action by the Executive is the best way forward.”