First minister 'does not accept' there is no more money for Stormont

First Minister Michelle O'Neill has said she does not accept the government's assertion that there is no more money on offer to Stormont, amid an ongoing stalemate over the budget.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant accused executive ministers of being financially "irresponsible".

The executive has not agreed a budget for this year, blaming the UK's devolution funding formula for leaving it short. Additional funding of about £1.5bn would be released in three tranches, with £525m available this year.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said it was a time "for calm heads and getting around the table to see if we can find a resolution".

One suggestion is that a larger chunk of the money allocated to Northern Ireland could be spent in the first year, referred to as "front-loading", but Sir Chris told the BBC that was not on offer.

O'Neill accused Sir Chris of being "out of touch" and said the public was entitled to fairness.

She was speaking after a Sinn Féin delegation met the Royal College of Nursing on Wednesday.

The union has opened a ballot for industrial action which may lead to nurses going out on strike over their delayed pay rise.

The first minister said the "number one priority" was to ensure public sector pay awards can go ahead this year.

"We're going to have their back in this conversation... we're not at the end of the line yet."

Asked if the executive would be able to issue pay deals to staff before Christmas, she said: "If we can get a budget over the line and we can get their pay we'll do everything we can to get the money into their pockets as quickly as possible."

The executive met virtually on Wednesday evening to discuss its next steps in the negotiations and agreed to ask Sir Chris to meet them urgently.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said this "isn't a time for bullish rhetoric".

"It is a time for calm heads and getting around the table to see if we can find a resolution the unavoidable pressures within the budget that we're facing."

She said the the secretary of state "knows how difficult it is at the moment".

"He should understand what he's asking us to do which is to live within the proposal at the moment is simply impossible. Even if you were to try to meet that in any way it would create absolute devastation to our public services.

"We have approached these discussions with the secretary of state, in my view, in a very responsible way.

"We have allowed him to see the pressures within each of those departmental budget lines."

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme, Sir Chris said: "There is no front-loading to be done.

"I've made it absolutely clear about 17 times now, both to members of the executive and to others, that there is no additional money beyond the £525m we have set aside for this year."

Bryant also criticised the performance of Stormont ministers.

"There is very little financial accountability or responsibility across the whole of the executive," he said.

"That's abnormal. There's no local council anywhere in the UK that doesn't have to bring in a balanced budget. That's what the executive is going to have to do.

"You cannot keep overspending willy-nilly and not expect consequences from that. It's just irresponsible."

Bryant can ultimately impose a budget on the executive by legislating through Westminster.

He suggested the absolute deadline for that is the end of January 2027 when executive departments would run out of money under the emergency budget rules on which they are currently operating.

People Before Profit (PBP) does not have representation on the executive but its assembly member Gerry Carroll also agreed that Stormont was underfunded.

"It's time the secretary of state and the British government coughed up the money to make sure that we're funded properly," he told the Nolan Show.

Carroll added that if Sir Chris's argument was taken to its conclusion it "will mean services being cut, it will mean water charges, it will higher fees - which is the only plan that any British government have ever had for this place".

"The executive are right in standing against those regressive measures."

Healthcare staff have yet to receive a pay rise this year, unlike their counterparts in the rest of the UK.

"It is despicable that, year after year, nursing staff in Northern Ireland are forced to fight for a pay award that colleagues elsewhere in the UK receive as a matter of course," said Prof Rita Devlin of the RCN.

Health Minister Robbie Butler told the Nolan Show that it would be "unconscionable, unethical and immoral" if funding was not released for the pay rise.

Butler took over the job from Mike Nesbitt less than two months ago and has previously warned the pay issue could jeopardise recent progress on health reforms.

Butler said the Secretary of state has "fallen short" in what is being offered on the budget.

The health minister said: "We need to find that settlement and that's a significant priority of mine, because we are facing into the winter pressures and strike action will have consequences.

"They [nurses] understand the consequences of taking strike action, they do it with deep regret, but unfortunately it's the only thing they have open to them to register that pressure not just with me but with my executive colleagues and critically with the secretary of state who has fallen short."

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) assembly member Matthew O'Toole, leader of the official opposition at Stormont, said public sector workers needed to know if they would receive their pay awards in time for Christmas.

Speaking at the assembly's finance committee, which he chairs, O'Toole called for an "urgent update" from the Department of Finance.

"Public sector workers out there rightly want to know whether they're going to have their pay increase that they're all expecting and deserve in time for Christmas.

"Both to meet the costs of Christmas, which is not getting any cheaper, but also the cost of increases at the pump and indeed increases in home heating oil and gas."

O'Toole added: "The finance minister said on Monday he was taking legal advice on whether it was possible to agree public sector pay deals in the absence of an agreed executive budget. I think we need to know what that advice is."

Stormont departments are facing a shortfall of up to £1.6bn, according to a spending watchdog.

Last month, Bryant made an offer of a financial package worth about £1.5bn over the next three years.

But executive parties said that did not go far enough and they have argued that significant gaps remain before they can agree to a deal that would allow them to set a budget.

With no agreed budget, public services have been operating under contingency arrangements allowing departments to spend up to 95% of last year's funding.