Draft NI budget agreed before deadline
Stormont ministers have agreed a draft budget for next year ahead of tomorrow’s UK Treasury-imposed deadline.
The deal, which will see hundreds of millions of pounds being removed from certain governmental departments, was struck at a meeting at Stormont Castle in Belfast.
If the power-sharing executive had failed to agree a provisional 2015/16 budget before the end of the week, the UK Government had warned ministers they would have forfeited a £100m (€120m) emergency loan from the Treasury.
If the loan had not been secured, the administration would have bust its annual spending limit – a move that would have seen civil servants taking control of financial decisions next year.
Not all departments will lose out under the spending plan, with the health service in particular poised for fresh investment in frontline services.
Finance Minister Simon Hamilton is set to outline the detail of the budget to the Assembly on Monday.
