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Without political input, many important decisions on budgets and public sector pay have been impossible to pass.

Successive suspensions at Stormont over the years have contributed to long-term issues in the public sector, with impacts seen across all areas of public services.

But perhaps nowhere more so than in the health and social care sector.

There are over 420,000 people currently waiting for their first consultant-led outpatient appointment following referral, an increase of more than fivefold since 2008.

While some individuals may appear on the list more than once awaiting separate treatments, this is still a huge figure in a population of 1.9 million.

In the latest available figures to the end of September, half of these had been waiting for more than a year to see a consultant, up from 5% in June 2015.

And nearly one in three patients had been waiting for more than two years for their initial consultation, up from 0.1% in September 2015.

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Health and Social Care Northern Ireland’s figures are not directly comparable with NHS England, which uses a different measure (from referral to treatment rather than to first appointment).

However, as a broad comparison, while waiting times have also been poor in England in November, only 4.7% had been waiting more than a year to complete their entire treatment journey following initial referral and less than 0.01% for more than two years.

Meadbhba Monaghan, chief executive of the Patient and Client Council (PCC), told Sky News: “The issues facing Health and Social Care (HSC) services in Northern Ireland are significant and varied; they have been building over a long period of time, and will not be fixed overnight.

“Through our work in supporting the public, we can clearly see many people are concerned about how they are communicated with, and how they experience services. This includes the quality of care they are receiving and how long they have to wait to access that care.

“Our physical and mental health is fundamental to our wellbeing, the current pressures on the HSC system and staff will be having a negative impact on individuals and their families.”

What has happened in the political vacuum

The devolved government has been suspended on five other occasions since it first sat in 1999 following the Good Friday peace agreement, with the longest suspension lasting for four-and-a-half years between October 2002 and May 2007.

However, in the context of post-pandemic recovery and an unprecedented cost of living crisis, the recent suspension has been “vastly more difficult”, according to recently retired senior civil servant Andrew McCormick.

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Stormont deal divides MPs

The former director general of international relations in the Executive Office and ex-permanent secretary at the Department for the Economy told Sky News: “Civil servants can make some routine decisions to keep things going as best they can, but it’s very limited.

“I know that my former colleagues have found it incredibly, incredibly difficult this last couple of years, with the cost of living and inflation making the situation much more fraught [than the last suspension of 2017-2020].

“It’s been a ridiculous position to be in and a complete abdication of responsibility.”

In the absence of ministers in Stormont, the Westminster parliament can still pass legislation and have taken responsibility for budgets and other ad hoc areas of legislation.

In the past two years, departmental budgets have plateaued despite exceptionally high levels of inflation.

And there has been a vacuum in which civil servants cannot take day-to-day decisions which are political in nature.

This includes coming to public sector pay deals because any commitments would take departments over current budgets.

Public sector pay

Last month saw one of the biggest strikes in Northern Ireland’s history, with an estimated 150,000 public sector workers joining marches and picket lines across the country to demand a resolution to pay disputes.

Median pay for public sector workers in the UK as a whole increased by 20% from £30,540 to £36,708 between 2016 and 2023. In Northern Ireland, pay has increased at a slower rate of 16.1% over the same period from £31,570 to £36,651 and is now below the UK average.

In its latest employee earnings report, the Department for the Economy noted real earnings in the public sector fell by 7.2% in the year to 2023, compared with an increase of 1.4% in the private sector.

Carmel Gates, general secretary of Northern Ireland’s largest public sector union NIPSA, which has around 45,000 members, told Sky News: “Quite frankly, what we are witnessing is haemorrhaging of public servants out of Northern Ireland, either to different parts of these islands where they’re better paid or to further abroad.

“It isn’t just in the last two years that the problems emerge, Northern Ireland has been underfunded for quite a period of time.

“The strikes on 18 September is the most galvanised and unified the trade union movement here has been probably ever and involved almost all public service unions.”

After many years of disruption over Brexit, COVID, the cost of living crisis, and prolonged periods without governance, many are hoping for swift and decisive action from the newly resumed executive in the coming days to stabilise the situation in Northern Ireland.

“When they get back they will need to set a budget very quickly, and that will help a lot in the short term,” says Andrew McCormick.

“They then have to face up to the longer-term issues. Much more needs to be done on stabilising public services.”


The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Tulip Siddiq faces new corruption investigation in Bangladesh

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Tulip Siddiq faces new corruption investigation in Bangladesh

Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq has been named by investigators in Bangladesh who allege she was involved in the illegal allocation of land to members of her family while serving as an MP.

Sky News has obtained an affidavit – or legal written statement – filed by the anti-corruption commission in Bangladesh that accuses Ms Siddiq and others of being involved in fraudulently obtaining plots in the diplomatic zone of a development near to the country’s capital Dhaka.

The document states: “While serving as a Member of the British parliament, it is known that [Ms Siddiq] exerted pressure and influence on her aunt, the former prime minister, to take measures for the allotment of plots in the same project in the names of her mother, Mrs Rehana Siddiq, her sister Ms Azmina Siddiq, and her brother Mr Radwan Mujib Siddiq.”

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Tulip Siddiq MP in 2019. Pic: Reuters
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Tulip Siddiq MP in 2019. Pic: Reuters

The director general of the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission Akhtar Hossain told Sky News: “Tulip Siddiq and former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina misused… power to take the plot from the Purbachal New Town Project.”

Investigators allege that planning officials were bribed and pressured into fraudulently allocating land.

A Labour source said Tulip Siddiq totally refutes the claims and had not been contacted by anyone on the matter.

The source also said no evidence had been presented for the allegations.

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Tulip Siddiq is asked if she will step down but gives no indication one way or the other.

Tulip Siddiq had already been named in Bangladeshi court documents, also seen by Sky News, relating to alleged embezzlement from a nuclear power project in the country.

Labour sources suggested the accusations were not genuine.

That court claim was made by Bobby Hajjaj, a political opponent of Ms Siddiq’s aunt – the former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Ms Hasina fled Bangladesh in August and resigned her post amid weeks of deadly protests.

The new government has since accused the previous Awami League administration of crimes and corruption while in office.

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Shadow chancellor calls on PM to sack minister

Tulip Siddiq has come under increasing pressure over her links to her aunt’s political party, with Sky News revealing she boasted about her connections to the Awami League in blog posts from 2008 and 2009.

The anti-corruption minister has also been found to have lived in several London properties with links to alleged allies of her aunt’s regime.

Tulip Siddiq (far left) with her aunt, Sheikh Hasina (third left), and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a 2013 signing ceremony in the Kremlin as Moscow lent $1.5bn to help build a nuclear power station. File pic: AP
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Tulip Siddiq (far left) with her aunt, Sheikh Hasina (third left), and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a 2013 signing ceremony in the Kremlin as Moscow lent $1.5bn to help build a nuclear power station. File pic: AP

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has since called for her to be suspended as a minister.

The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition has also said Ms Siddiq should step aside from the money laundering and economic crime brief she currently holds.

“The clear conflict of interest surrounding Tulip Siddiq presents a key test for the new government… as anti-corruption experts, it is clear to us that she should not hold responsibility for these sensitive areas in her portfolio”, said Peter Munro, senior coordinator at the anti-corruption coalition.

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20mph: Data reveals how many people broke speed limit on Welsh roads in 2024

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20mph: Data reveals how many people broke speed limit on Welsh roads in 2024

More than 85,000 people exceeded the 20mph speed limit on Welsh roads last year, according to new data.

The figures from GoSafe, the road safety partnership, show that the majority of the offences (48,551) took place in Mid and South Wales.

The default speed limit in Wales’s built-up areas was reduced from 30mph to 20mph in September 2023.

August was the month which saw the highest number of speeding offences on 20mph roads, with 15,284 breaches recorded across Wales.

The Welsh government said the change in speed limit would reduce serious collisions and save lives, pointing to international evidence where the limit was reduced, such as in Spain.

In the first quarter of 2024, there were 316 road collisions on 20 and 30mph roads in Wales – 25% lower than for the same period in 2023, according to Welsh government figures.

Other parts of the UK have also introduced a similar change. In 2020, Glasgow City Council voted to cut the speed limit on its residential streets. In London, a number of major roads have also seen a 20mph limit introduced.

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The policy faced significant opposition from some quarters in Wales, including a record-breaking petition on the Senedd‘s website.

Politicians in Cardiff Bay said they received “threatening” messages over their stance on the rollout.

But last month, the Welsh government won an international road safety award for introducing the policy.

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Last April, a review of the default speed limit was announced and the Welsh government later published revised guidance for local councils.

Announcing the review, transport minister Ken Skates said he was working to get “the right speed on the right roads”.

Councils then asked the public to have their say, with some roads that were previously 30mph switching back from September.

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Kemi Badenoch says grooming gang abusers are ‘peasants’ from ‘sub-communities’ in other countries

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Kemi Badenoch says grooming gang abusers are 'peasants' from 'sub-communities' in other countries

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said grooming gang perpetrators are “peasants” from “sub-communities” in other countries.

She has now met survivors after revealing last week she had not met any while calling for a new national inquiry into the scandal that saw thousands of mainly white girls being abused by men of mainly Pakistani origin.

Ms Badenoch said she was shocked by their stories and an inquiry needs to look at “cultural issues”.

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“There is a systematic pattern of behaviour not even just from one country, but from sub-communities within those countries, people with a particular background, particular class background, work background,” she told GB News.

“You know, people [who are] very, very poor, sort of peasant background, very, very rural, almost cut off from even the home origin countries that they might have been in.

“They’re not necessarily first generation. The jobs that they were doing… allowed them to exhibit this predatory behaviour.”

She also said there is another issue of the “culture of silence, the culture of ‘computer says no’, the culture of ‘move along, nothing to see here’, the culture of ‘this is not our problem’, which is on the side of the state”.

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Grooming gangs: What happened?

The Tory leader said a national inquiry needs to look at both “cultural issues” at the same time.

She has repeatedly clashed with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as she calls for a new national inquiry.

The government has said another national inquiry is not needed after a seven-year inquiry was published in 2022 by Professor Alexis Jay.

It has said the focus should instead be on implementing the 20 recommendations made by Professor Jay, and is in favour of locally-led inquiries.

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Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch arrives to give evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry.
Pic: PA
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Ms Badenoch is calling for a new national inquiry. Pic: PA

Tech billionaire Elon Musk brought the issue to international attention as he attacked Sir Keir for his involvement in prosecuting grooming gangs while he was chief prosecutor from 2008-2013. The prime minister has pushed back against Mr Musk’s claims.

Ms Badenoch said a national inquiry would shine a light on the truth and hold people to account.

“This is about those victims who deserve justice,” she said.

“The survivors who deserve justice by making sure that every single perpetrator we can find is caught and brought to justice, and those who failed in their duty to protect their children are held to account and exposed.”

Her comments came as the Labour MP for Rotherham Sarah Champion called for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, but led locally.

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