'This is the final offer,' says NI secretary over £1.5bn Stormont funding package

The Northern Ireland Secretary of State has said the government's £1.5bn financial package for Stormont is his "final offer" and has given executive parties until next Thursday to respond.

Sir Chris Bryant said there was "no more money" available and that the Northern Ireland Executive needed to agree a budget.

He said he would have to consider "every eventuality" if the executive failed to reach an agreement, including the possibility of a budget being passed at Westminster.

"I don't want to legislate for a budget. I want to sit down and I'll be as cooperative as I possibly can," he said.

Earlier this month, Bryant made an offer of a financial package worth about £1.5bn over the next three years - that was a rise from an initial proposal of £1.1bn.

But executive parties said it did not go far enough and have argued that significant gaps remain before they can agree to a deal that would allow them to set a budget.

Some six months have passed since the executive should have set a budget for this financial year.

Speaking to BBC Newsline, Sir Chris said he had given executive parties until noon next Thursday to come back to him with a plan for agreeing a budget for this year and the following two years.

"It's my final offer. It's a good offer," he said.

He added: "There is no more money. The financial situation in the UK government at the moment is very, very tight."

Asked whether he was prepared to introduce a budget at Westminster if the executive did not accept the offer, Sir Chris said: "I've got to look at every eventuality. Of course I have. I've got to be responsible about this."

He said he did not want to legislate for a budget and would prefer to work with executive parties to reach an agreement.

"If it's impossible to set a budget through the executive, then somebody else will have to do it for them," he said.

"But I'm not at that stage yet."

Sir Chris also said the executive would have to consider raising additional revenue, but that it was not his job to tell ministers how to do so.

He said he had not specifically raised the introduction of water charges with executive parties.

Executive parties have been in negotiations with the government in a bid to get increased funding.

Finance Minister John O'Dowd previously said the current published financial pressures facing Stormont departments were around £1.6bn, adding: "So we have a bit to go."

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said the "current offer from the British government falls well short of what is required to fund, transform and improve our public services".

"The north receives less in funding than Wales and Scotland which if addressed would give us a transformative increase of between £1 billion and £3 billion.

"People here pay their taxes and have the right to properly funded public services and our public service workers deserve proper pay settlements."

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)'s Steve Aiken said that "calling this the final offer does not make it a fair or sufficient offer".

"The UK government has moved significantly from its opening position, and that should be acknowledged. However, even with extensive savings, the annual funding on offer would barely meet the pressures in health alone. That puts the scale of the Executive's wider problem into stark perspective."

He said it had been made to clear during meetings that our public services need to "deliver to our citizens the same standard of health, education, policing and other services as is available in any other postcode in our nation".

The offer on the table from the government includes £450m extra for day-to-day pressures this year, as well as an additional £400m in 2027/28 and 2028/29.