In the Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker, the Sugar Plum Fairy presents Clara with Spanish chocolate, Arabian coffee, Chinese tea and French marzipan, doling out the sweets in gratitude for saving the Prince from the Mouse King and his minions.
And so it is, in the mouth of Christmas that Chris Heaton-Harris pliés and pirouettes around Hillsborough with sweeteners in the form of a £2.5 billion financial package designed to get the parties – but mostly the DUP – back into Stormont.
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The horse trading is still going on as I pen this column but it is worth taking a moment to reflect on some of the issues that have been raised by this round of negotiation.
There is no doubt that the suspension of the Assembly for the past 22 months has had a hugely negative impact on public finances in the north. That is evident from the growth in waiting lists for healthcare. It is evident in the fact that so many people in the public sector are paid well below their counterparts in England and Wales for the same job. It is evident in the number of strikes that are ongoing in the healthcare, education and transport sectors. It is evident in the fact that earnings in the north are 11% less than they are in Britain.
Earnings are simply not keeping pace with the cost of living. The proud boast that we are almost at full employment in this region doesn’t mean a thing when the cost of childcare and commuting is leaving families in full-time employment having to rely on foodbanks.
The £2.5 billion financial package would, we are told, allow public sector pay claims in the current year to be settled, but makes no provision for future cost of living increases or renegotiation of pay scales, or for ensuring pay parity.
Worryingly, it then seemed the Sugar Plum Fairy might be the villain of the story when we were told the cash would only be provided in exchange for a 15% increase in domestic and commercial rates.
“The suggestion by some that the negotiations on a financial package for Stormont and the DUP’s discussions with the British government are separate is, of course, entirely fictional
If it wasn’t so serious it would be quite laughable to, on the one hand, offer public sector workers a pay increase that is long overdue and on the other to say that we’re going to take it back off you in property tax. This is just moving money around and it’s not actually benefiting anybody.
It’s also an interference by Westminster in devolved matters. It is for the Assembly to decide how to try and raise additional revenue. A 15% increase across the board on rates would disproportionately impact people on lower incomes and would not address the inequality of the rates cap for homes with a value in excess of £400,000.
Given that we are in the middle of a 14-week public consultation by the Department of Finance on potential reforms to the rates system, it is breathtakingly arrogant that the NIO would make such a demand.
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The suggestion by some that the negotiations on a financial package for Stormont and the DUP’s discussions with the British government are separate is, of course, entirely fictional. Money is all that the British government has to offer the DUP, because there won’t be any renegotiation of the Windsor framework with the EU.
The DUP cannot negotiate a financial settlement and then say, “Yes we got a financial deal but we’re not going back anyway until the seven tests are met.” Having entered into these negotiations, if the DUP know says no to them, then it has nowhere else to go. There will be no Executive, it will be weakened at Westminster and it will be propping up direct rule, which could see a greater role for the Irish government in the affairs of the north.
In Tchaikovsky’s ballet, the Mouse King is slain by the Nutcracker Prince and everyone lives happily ever after, of course. But a better ending would be if, in standing up to his minions and doing the right thing, the Mouse King turned into a true leader.
