Freezing Assembly members’ pay and suspending top level recruitment in the Civil Service are among a £400 million package of economic rescue measures for Northern Ireland proposed by the SDLP today.
The party has also suggested selling off a range of government assets, including Forestry Service land, city centre car parks and the headquarters of the Housing Executive in Belfast, in order to free up more public money to help fight the recession.
Under the proposals the cash reserves of the industrial promotion body Invest NI and the Belfast Harbour Commissioners would also be raided to raise additional funds.
The SDLP wants the money accumulated from the drastic re-shaping of the Executive’s three-year budget to be diverted into projects to re-train workers laid off in the current downturn and support packages for business struggling to keep their heads above water.
More than 700 nursing jobs currently under threat would also be saved if the plan was accepted by the Assembly, according to the party.
It also wants more cash put into capital works projects to help the construction industry, and into tourism schemes and social housing initiatives.
Party leader Mark Durkan, who outlined details of budget revision at Stormont, said the DUP and Sinn Féin had to reprioritise spending to take account of changing economic climate.
“The Executive’s budget, which the SDLP opposed, was based on a number of projections and presumptions which are no longer valid,” he said.
“Therefore, when economic conditions change the budget management should change too.
“But Sinn Féin and the DUP have refused to change anything instead adopting a ‘No we can’t’ approach. They argue there is no new money but this is precisely why we must look again at the budget.
“In the long-term the SDLP is proposing to recast the Budget which is what Devolution is meant to do and what the Assembly ought to be doing.
“This paper is about job creation and job protection and is our initial contribution to start a much needed debate.
“Doing nothing is not an option.”
A freeze on MLAs’ pay (£42,000 per annum) for the next two years would save £600,000 while suspending recruitment for £80,000-a-year-plus civil service posts, barring those working on front line projects, would raise an estimated £35 million, the party claimed.
Other money generating measures in the SDLP plan include:
- taking back £30 million of Invest NI’s estimated £45 million cash reserves.
- Requesting that the Belfast Harbour Commissioners uses £20 million of their resources on the Titanic Signature Project in east Belfast, thus reducing the government’s #43.5 million commitment.
- Using £40 million previously earmarked for the ill-fated multi-sports stadium at the Maze. The SDLP still wants a stadium to be built in the future and has proposed a site behind Belfast’s Great Victoria Street.
- re-profile the Housing Executive’s estimated £1.1 billion debt to reduce annual payments.
- establishing a new assembly body to scrutinise public spending more rigorously. The party envisages this would have more powers than the current Public Accounts Committee.
- stop the practice of using independent consultancy firms on government projects.
- sell off £24 million worth of Roads Service car parks
- sell 12 per cent of Forestry Service land - worth an estimated £36 million - to companies within the industry, such as paper factories.
- sell the Housing Executive’s headquarters in Belfast city centre, valued at £16 million.
- charge mobile phone companies rates for their mast sites and banks for their ATMs.
PA