Speeches by Benn.

“The open book process was an attempt to do it. It was done in a limited period of time. It provided some valuable and useful information. Different people have different views about it. There is no reason why the Executive should not have done their own open book process before. There is no reason why the Executive sho…”

“I really hope that that is not going to prove the case, because, I repeat, it is the responsibility of the Executive to set a Budget. It is. They can set a budget, as they did last year, and then end up overspending, which resulted in them coming to us and asking, “Can you help us out?” Eventually, the Government agree…”

“I would very much like to be able to do this as soon as possible. We are still in the process of establishing the facts about the nature of the likely overspend for the year. It seems to me that that is an obvious and essential first step—what is the real figure?—given the experience last year where it was £800 million…”

“As far as I am aware, there has never been a circumstance in which, where the Executive are in being and the Assembly is meeting, a UK Government have set a Budget for Northern Ireland. There have been circumstances, of course, when the Executive have collapsed where the Government have done that. The institutions are …”

“The Fiscal Council has drawn attention to how the various legal obligations relate to each other. The point has been raised about the ability to spend revenues that are raised. The Northern Ireland Executive get quite a lot of money. From memory, the figure was something of the order of £3 billion that comes in. The Fi…”

“That depends on what the work that is now being undertaken shows. We showed our willingness to provide support last year with the £400 million reserve claim. That came with some conditions, but then I look back. The £3.3 billion that was given when the Executive were restored also came with conditions, not all of which…”

“The Budget is clearly not being managed properly and effectively because of the persistent overspends that the Fiscal Council has drawn attention to and that we can see for ourselves. There are reasons for some of those pressures. Let us take the size of the public sector. When a pay increase is made in England, that i…”

“Yes, indeed.”

“I would make two points in answer to that. If you look back at Northern Ireland Executive relative funding compared to need, because the Fiscal Council was asked to opine, what is the need? The Fiscal Council—I paraphrase, but I am conscious that the chair is sitting right behind me, so he will shout out if I have got …”

“I hope that I get marks for consistency.”

“I know you would not invite me to just echo the quote of the Treasury. The Treasury’s position is very clear. The Government’s position is very clear. It is set out in the words that you read out.”

“Good morning.”

“Since you refer to the PSNI, we do that through the additional security fund, and we increased that when we came in as the Government. I think that it had been flat for about 10 years and we increased it. The last time I was before the Select Committee, I think it was you, Mr Robinson, who asked me about the security g…”

“Thank you for the question, because you have given me the chance to say that being in compulsory coalition with parties with whom you are in really quite fundamental disagreement is really hard. It is really hard. If we were to contemplate for a moment a compulsory coalition where we were all told, “For the good of the…”

“I accept entirely that it is hard. The question is how we avoid this happening, where the Northern Ireland Executive says to the Government, “We would really like to address these things. We cannot do it this year. Can you give us some money for this year and we will try to address it next year?” If we are honest about…”

“Could you just say the last bit again?”

“There would have been a huge overspend on the budget. That is the obvious point, and nobody really wanted that.”

“You come into government, you take on responsibilities to manage public money. Why should the Northern Ireland Executive be different?”

“I know, but I wanted to make sure that I heard the question too.”

“Although I am naturally optimistic, I would hope that the answers I have given to the Select Committee this morning are based on realism, and that includes realism about who is responsible for what. If you come into Government, you take on responsibilities. If you are running an Administration or a Government—and that …”