Benn urges Stormont to reform public services

The secretary of state has issued a challenge to the Stormont Executive to reform Northern Ireland's public services.

In a speech in Belfast, marking one year since power-sharing was restored, Hilary Benn said it had been a "great start", but that difficult decisions were now unavoidable.

He said that over many years, decisions necessary to improve the health service and other public services had simply not been taken.

The Stormont Executive has repeatedly argued that greater funding from Westminster is needed.

Benn said that at times, the lack of decision making was "down to there being no executive in place".

However at other times, he said there had "simply been a lack of agreement among executive ministers on the steps that need to be taken, or on the revenue that needs to be raised, or on the allocation of resources".

He told an audience at Ulster University that a lack of funding from the government was not the impediment to public service transformation.

He said there had been "many missed opportunities to take decisions or to apply learning from other parts of the UK".

"It is only right that the executive makes decisions about its own spending and revenue-raising priorities, however it must take responsibility for balancing its budget and living within its means - just as all governments must," he added.

He denied he was "telling off" the Stormont parties about public service reform.

"I wouldn't characterise as telling anyone off, it's not my style or approach, we are in this together," he said.

Benn said he needed to encourage people and applauded the executive's last 12 months, but said the "next stage beckons".

He added that now was "the moment for nettle to be grasped".

He also refused to back calls from some parties for the power-sharing institutions at Stormont to be reformed to avoid future collapses.

"I've thought carefully about what I'd say on this - it seems clear to me that reform will have to come from within the parties who took that decision 26 years ago to move things forward, but they have the means of avoiding collapse in their hands," he said.

He added that he could see "no reason why" the institutions should collapse again.

The Irish government has previously backed proposals by Alliance and the SDLP for reform to be driven by Westminster and Dublin.

The last Conservative administration also rejected that call.

Speaking on Monday, First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said the executive was actively looking at solutions to improve public services but offered caution on any "easy solutions".

O'Neill said the wider public were fully aware that Northern Ireland had "been starved of the funding in our public services for years".

"My job is to fight for good public services here," she added.

Little-Pengelly said they needed to "look at how we are spending the budget we have, to look at that efficiency within departments".

In his speech on Tuesday, Benn also reflected on Northern Ireland's place in the union and the task for politicians to ensure that the union continued to "improve the lives of all communities, regardless of their constitutional ambition".

He also had a special mention for the Democratic Unionist Party, specifically its leader Gavin Robinson and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, commending them on their courage and commitment to Northern Ireland in leading the party back into the executive after a stand-off over post-Brexit trade rules.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said it was "a real shame" that Benn choose to lead his speech the way he did.

"There is a need for transformation of our public services in Northern Ireland.

"But this government needs to recognise that you cannot continue to provide the same level of public services at the same time as transforming those services with the same financial envelope," he said.

"So they're going to have to provide support for those endeavours," Robinson said.

Sinn Féin Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald described Mr Benn's comments as "arrogant" and said they show a "blatant disregard for our communities here and our democratically elected politicians."

Archibald said Stormont ministers were engaged every day making decisions for the people of Northern Ireland.

"We know the issues because we live here and in our communities.

"I think that it would be much better to work as a constructive partnership, rather than flying in and telling us what we need to do.

"Especially when the executive and all the ministers sitting around that executive table know what needs to be done and are committed to delivering."