Tensions between Wilson and Robinson?

In today's Belfast Telegraph I acknowledge that the budget cut penny seems to have dropped with Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson, but I ask whether Peter Robinson shares his realism?

For some time our politicians have realised that separate water charges are unavoidable. With the budget tightening, it would be folly to defer them any longer.
To Wilson's credit, he has argued the case for an immediate introduction. It is the type of unpopular decision which must be made in the interests of good government.
When the Finance Minister authored a paper, working on the assumption that charges would be introduced for the 2011-12 financial year, however, he was rebuffed by his colleague in the First Minister's office
Robinson rejected the document, describing it as "unwise", and rubbished the notion that the Executive is to implement a 'tap tax'.
It is not the first time that the two DUP men have clashed over economic policy. Previously, Wilson declared his scepticism about a cut in corporation tax for Northern Ireland, arguing that it would inevitably be accompanied by a reduction in the block grant. Robinson, meanwhile, has made positive noises about lower business taxes.
The First Minister probably has the stronger case on that issue. But at least Wilson shows awareness that there are two sides to the public finance ledger.
I argue that, too frequently, the Executive's decision making has been guided by populism, rather than common sense.  It is a trait which accompanies devolution but it is also exacerbated by the navel gazing fomented by the peace process in Northern Ireland.
The Executive is missing opportunities to show leadership. The problem with devolution is it hands regional administrations power without requiring fiscal responsibility. It is too easy to take credit for popular policies and blame Westminster for unpopular ones.
The phenomenon was exacerbated by the fawning attention which we became accustomed to from prime ministers. The 'peace process' inculcated a sense of overweening entitlement. But the rest of the UK doesn't owe us a living. Tough decisions can't be avoided.
With the 2011 Assembly elections looming, the Executive might be tempted to delay the pain a little longer. This would be irresponsible. I suspect Sammy Wilson has accepted this. He still needs to persuade Peter Robinson.

Comments

Anonymous said…
You wish. For someone who so obviously hates the DUP, you seem to spend an awful lot of time and energy focused upon them.
21 June 2010 at 17:02
Owen Polley said…
I write articles about Northern Irish politics. It would be odd not to mention the biggest party in the Executive.
21 June 2010 at 17:05
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Football fever in Russia

Russia Blog is getting excited about Euro 2008. Indeed it is drawing parallels between Guus Hiddink and Peter the Great in terms of successful Russo-Dutch exchanges of expertise. Meanwhile, in Moscow, fans have been taking to the streets in order to celebrate the national team’s achievements.
Read more

Stormont might not collapse but paramilitaries continue to disfigure Northern Ireland

Image
The devolved institutions in Northern Ireland are supposedly ‘teetering on the brink’ of collapse yet again.  After repeated failures to agree a balanced budget or implement welfare reform created months of uncertainty, the Executive’s future is now in doubt because the PSNI believes members of the IRA were involved in murdering a republican hit man.  Despite its apparent seriousness, this particular predicament is unlikely to bring the shaky edifice at Stormont crashing down. The IRA was supposed to have disbanded its military ‘structures’ and decommissioned its entire arsenal of weapons back in 2005.  It was on the basis of this understanding that power-sharing resumed in 2007 and the DUP entered government with Sinn Féin.  From the outset it was a fairly flimsy pretext.   Less than a year after John de Chastelain, the retired Canadian general, oversaw decommissioning, the Independent Monitoring Commission reported that the IRA retaine...
Read more

Walker loada rubbish

Former BBC employee Brian Walker has overrun Slugger O’Toole lately with countless poorly structured, poorly written posts. It is possible quickly to recognize and avoid these by subjecting each Slugger piece to a cursory inspection and identifying those which feature characteristic lack of paragraphing and a tenuous grasp on the technicalities of linking source articles. Although I generally evade Walker’s posts by this method, occasionally (and unfortunately) I have persevered and found that their content is as unrewarding as the style in which they are written. Today, for instance, I inflicted upon myself Brian’s thoughts on a mooted Fianna Fail / SDLP merger . In actual fact, he is right to welcome news that the Southern Irish party has dropped this proposal from its agenda; however, the logic by which he arrives at this conclusion is parochial nonsense. To summarise, Walker believes that pursuing realignment with larger parties, whether they are from the rest of the UK or fro...
Read more