On the 11th of June, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), which gives the Labour government an opportunity to set out their long-term plans for spend. The Chancellor highlighted a 2.3% increase in Westminster departmental budgets, but the majority of the public spending increase is focused on capital investments in areas of energy, transport, business, and defence and smaller increases to health, education, and local government. Day-to-day spending, however, did not see the same level of investment. While the self-imposed fiscal rules set out by the Chancellor have allowed for the increases in capital investment, tweaking the fiscal rules could expand that to other areas of day-to-day spending that have long-term benefits like capital investment.
So what does this mean for Northern Ireland?
Because spending decisions for devolved matters at the Westminster level does not dictate spending decisions at the Stormont level, it more so gives us a sense of what funding Stormont will be working with for the upcoming budget. The Westminster departmental increases relating to devolved matters will filter into the future Northern Ireland Block Grant. For example, in 2026 the Department of Finance will be working with £16.3 billion in day-to-day spending which will increase to £16.8 billion in 2027. Additionally, it is assumed that this CSR will lead to multi-year budgets, which the NIWBG advocates for and would help with long-term planning of spend. However, Minister O’Dowd has stated that even with these increases, Stormont departments will be faced with financial difficulties. When Treasury increases spend on reserved matters, such as defence, that money does not factor into the Block Grant and therefore does not help in alleviating our crisis in the funding of public services.
How does this impact on gender equality in Northern Ireland?
The prioritisation of defence and capital investments over day-to-day spending will not repair the damage that a decade of austerity has done to women and other protected equality groups. We urge the Chancellor to revisit and widen the scope of the fiscal rules and advocate for a greater focus on the short- and long-term benefits of day-to-day spending.
Alex Brannen, NI Women’s Budget Group
