'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 on 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 but wanted to "sit down and I'll be as cooperative as I possibly can".

However some parties have criticised the deadline with the DUP's Diane Dodds describing it as "reckless".

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, adding that he was "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.

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said Northern Ireland had been "underfunded for over a decade".

The NI Fiscal Council has found that Scotland and Wales are currently funded above their levels of assessed need while NI is at or slightly below its assessed funding need.

Speaking to BBC's The View programme, the Sinn Féin minister said: "The people here pay their taxes, they're entitled to good public services."

"We'll continue to stand up for that and ensure that message is heard loud and clear and I think the executive is united in that," she added.

DUP MLA Diane Dodds described the Northern Ireland Secretary's final offer as "reckless" and "unrealistic".

"He needs to be honest with people in Northern Ireland. Is he....going to stand over the decimation of public services in Northern Ireland and severe cuts to those public services or is he going to be realistic and sit down with parties instead of haranguing people over the media on this issues," she told The View.

She said Sir Chris knew Northern Ireland was "underfunded relative to need and relative to other parts of the United Kingdom".

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."

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 clear during meetings that 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.