Politics

Rishi Sunak insists priority in Northern Ireland is not ‘constitutional change’

Published

10 months ago

February 5, 2024

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Rishi Sunak has insisted the priority in Northern Ireland is day-to-day governing rather than “constitutional change”.

The prime minister was in Northern Ireland to celebrate the restoration of power sharing in the nation.

This came after changes were made to the post-Brexit settlement, reducing the checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Follow live: PM meets Northern Ireland’s leaders

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had held up the formation of an executive since 2022 due to their opposition to the situation.

This executive is the first to feature a nationalist as first minister, with Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill taking that role.

The deputy first minister – the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly – holds equal responsibility and power to Ms O’Neill under the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Sunak said: “I had very constructive meetings this morning with the executive, with political leaders across Stormont, and it is a historic and important day for the country, because Northern Ireland’s politicians are back in charge, making decisions on behalf of their people, which is exactly how it should be.

“Now, our new deal gives them more funding and more powers than they have ever had, so they can deliver for families and businesses across Northern Ireland. And that’s what everyone’s priority is now.

“It is not constitutional change, it is delivering on the day-to-day things that matter to people.”

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, was also in Stormont today.

He and Mr Sunak met, after which a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister began by congratulating the Ireland rugby team for their emphatic win against France in the Six Nations on Friday.

“The prime minister turned to the day’s events and thanked the Taoiseach for the Irish government’s support for the UK government efforts to see restoration of devolution in Northern Ireland.

“This had been a challenging time, but patience had proved key to a deal. Now that the institutions were up and running again, he wanted to see all three strands functioning equally well. The sense of relief and optimism from people in Northern Ireland had been very striking and made it all worthwhile.

“The leaders reiterated their shared view that a stable, effective and successful Northern Ireland benefitted the UK-Irish relationship immensely. They looked forward to remaining in close contact.”

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Speaking afterwards, Mr Varadkar said: “I think the priority for any new executive in any government, in any country, has to be the day-to-day concerns of people.

“So, as you know, there are very long waiting lists in Northern Ireland – not a problem unique to Northern Ireland by any means.

“We have similar problems to others – issues around the economy and around public sector pay – and certainly the sense that I got from the first minister and deputy first minister and the executive is very keen to get stuck into their briefs.”

He repeated Mr Sunak’s words, saying that the focus of today should be on the re-establishment of the executive rather than “constitutional questions”.

Speaking over the weekend, Ms O’Neill said she could see a vote on Irish unification happening within the next decade.

In an article in the Belfast Telegraph this morning, Mr Sunak said: “The shape of Northern Ireland’s future is now clear: devolved government, within the United Kingdom, for as long as the majority wish it.”

He added: “The government will always give full and equal respect to constitutional nationalism and the desire for a united Ireland, pursued through peaceful and democratic means – just as we recognise that there are a growing number of people who do not define their aspirations by reference to one tradition or another.”

As part of the attempts to restore the executive, the UK government made a £3.3bn “final offer” to Northern Ireland.

Mr Sunak said this has “been widely recognised as being significant and generous”.

He added that it was focused on “long-term sustainability, ensuring that Northern Ireland has the funding it needs, not just for today to deal with the immediate challenges, but it is on a path to be able to provide high-quality public services into the future”.

Speaking at a meeting with Ms O’Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly, Mr Varadkar said: “It’s great that the institutions are back up and running again, we want the executive to be a success and to last, and keen to help in any way we can but not to interfere, but definitely to help, and keen to see the North South Ministerial Council up and running again as soon as possible, and the British Irish Council as well of course.”

Politics

‘There is a global race underway for Bitcoin’ — Anthony Pompliano

Published

2 hours ago

November 16, 2024

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<div>'There is a global race underway for Bitcoin' — Anthony Pompliano</div>

The election of a pro-crypto President in the United States and growing macroeconomic turmoil will continue to drive investors to Bitcoin.

Politics

Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions ‘all day long’ as farmers slam ‘disrespectful’ PM

Published

3 hours ago

November 16, 2024

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Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions 'all day long' as farmers slam 'disrespectful' PM

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% applied to other land and property.

The announcement has sparked anger among farmers who argue this will mean higher food prices, lower food production and having to sell off land to pay for the tax.

Sir Keir defended the budget as he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales, where farmers have been holding a tractor protest outside.

Sir Keir admitted: “We’ve taken some extremely tough decisions on tax.”

He said: “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. I will defend the tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy.

“And I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy, and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales. Finally, turning the page on austerity once and for all.”

He also said the budget allocation for Wales was a “record figure” – some £21bn for next year – an extra £1.7bn through the Barnett Formula, as he hailed a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.

And he confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going live in 2025.

‘PM should have addressed the protesters’

Among the hundreds of farmers demonstrating was Gareth Wyn Jones, who told Sky News it was “disrespectful” that the prime minister did not mention farmers in his speech.

He said “so many people have come here to air their frustrations. He (Starmer) had an opportunity to address the crowd. Even if he was booed he should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people”.

He said farmers planned to deliver Sir Keir a letter which begins with “‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.

Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.

“They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”

He said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”

Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.

“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”

On Friday, Sir Keir addressed farmers’ concerns, saying: “I know some farmers are anxious about the inheritance tax rules that we brought in two weeks ago.

“What I would say about that is, once you add the £1m for the farmland to the £1m that is exempt for your spouse, for most couples with a farm wanting to hand on to their children, it’s £3m before anybody pays a penny in inheritance tax.”

Ministers said the move will not affect small farms and is aimed at targeting wealthy landowners who buy up farmland to avoid paying inheritance tax.

But analysis this week said a typical family farm would have to put 159% of annual profits into paying the new inheritance tax every year for a decade and could have to sell 20% of their land.

The Country and Land Business Association (CLA), which represents owners of rural land, property and businesses in England and Wales, found a typical 200-acre farm owned by one person with an expected profit of £27,300 would face a £435,000 inheritance tax bill.

The plan says families can spread the inheritance tax payments over 10 years, but the CLA found this would require an average farm to allocate 159% of its profits each year for a decade.

To pay that, successors could be forced to sell 20% of their land, the analysis found.