Following the UK government’s decision to means-test the Winter Fuel Payment, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has announced a one-off payment of £100 for pensioners who will not receive the Winter Fuel Payment.
Following last week’s announcement on the October monitoring round, Justice Minister Naomi Long has announced additional funding for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Legal Aid.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has said the latest monitoring round agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive is ‘insufficient’ as he cannot maintain pay parity. The Department of Health will receive an additional £350 million, but he says he needs another £100 million.
The new leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has appointed her shadow cabinet. Alex Burghart keeps his role as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, but is also made Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – essentially becoming her deputy.
Sinn Féin councillor Paul Burke has announced that he has resigned from Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council due to “personal reasons”. He will be replaced by Declan Lynch – a Sinn Féin policy advisor at the Assembly.
Alex Burghart has said that “it’s been very annoying” that he has not yet made a visit to Northern Ireland as Shadow Secretary of State, which he states is due to difficulties in getting funding from Conservative Party Headquarters.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that the Northern Ireland Executive is to receive an additional £1.5 billion for next year’s budget, bringing the total to £18.2 billion for 2025/26 – “the largest in real terms in the history of devolution” according to NI Secretary Hilary Benn.
The twelve members of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee (NIAC) have been confirmed, with just two parties from Northern Ireland being represented on the committee. Learn more about all the new members of the committee.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, will announce her budget on Wednesday in the House of Commons – the first since Labour’s landslide victory in this year’s general election.
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