PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Budget - 27 November 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

This Government are providing the Executive with an £18.2 billion funding settlement for 2025-26. This represents a £1.5 billion increase on this year and is the largest settlement since devolution. It is now for the Executive to decide how the funding is spent.

One of the central aspects of the reconciliation process arising from the Good Friday agreement is the need to facilitate and encourage integrated education, so will the Secretary of State join me in welcoming the continued support for integrated education in the autumn Budget?

I certainly will, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that issue. Poll after poll in Northern Ireland shows that there is strong support for integrated education from the public. From memory, about 8% of pupils study in integrated schools, and I hope we would all like that number to increase. Last week, my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Education Secretary visited an integrated school. The Education Secretary was, I think, the 15th Minister apart from myself who has visited Northern Ireland since the election.

Does the Secretary of State agree that the recent Budget gives the Northern Ireland Executive the opportunity to really go for growth after many years of uncertainty?

I do. There is no doubt that the funding the Northern Ireland Executive received as a result of the Budget was more than they had anticipated, but all government is about making choices with the resources we have and the income we can raise, and deciding what our priorities are. The Budget provides a sound foundation for the Northern Ireland Executive to take the decisions they need to take.

Does the Secretary of State agree that to ensure sustainable finances, the Northern Ireland Executive need to set out clear steps to reform both the NHS and broader public services?

I do agree with that. As my hon. Friend and the House will know, the longest waiting lists in the health service in the United Kingdom are to be found in Northern Ireland. That is not acceptable, above all for those people who are waiting far too long. There is a plan for reform, which I welcome, but the people of Northern Ireland want to see progress happening.

Just last week, I attended and spoke at a rally hosted by the Ulster Farmers’ Union in response to the change to agricultural property relief. It was attended by 6,000 farmers, with every political party in Northern Ireland standing together in opposition to the change. When will the Government acknowledge that their figures are not reflective of the average farm, and that this death tax will result in the break-up of family farms as we know them, the selling of land to pay the tax, and the purchasing of devalued land by big businesses that are not interested in using it to feed our nation? Will the Secretary of State outline whether he has shared the concerns of Northern Ireland farmers with the Chancellor?

I have spoken to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and a Treasury Minister about this. I understand that the changes are unwelcome and difficult, but given the fiscal position, the Government are having to take difficult decisions. There is, however, a difference of view about how many farms will be affected, and the Treasury estimate is about 500 claims a year. We cannot infer from land values an inheritance tax liability, because it depends on the ownership structure of the farm.

The Secretary of State knows that there is extra funding for the running of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and about the issues with police recruitment, but there is also the issue of not having a new police college. Will he give a commitment that he will speak to the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister and the Justice Minister to ensure that that police college is built at Kinnegar?

That is an issue for the Executive, but as the hon. Member alluded to, the position on police funding has been improved, with additional money being given to the PSNI by the Executive out of extra funding that the Budget provided. The UK Government have also increased the additional security funding that is given in recognition of the security needs in Northern Ireland.

With 14 miles between my constituency of Dumfries and Galloway and Northern Ireland, I know how much we have in common. Unfortunately, we also share the fact that hospitality businesses in Northern Ireland and much of Scotland are not benefiting from a 75% discount on business rates bills. That cannot be called “headwinds”; to quote Van Morrison, it is a “Full Force Gale”. Does the Secretary of State agree that by increasing employer national insurance contributions rather than growing the economy on both sides of the North channel, we are threatening jobs, stopping investment, jacking up prices, and putting business viability at risk?

The businesses I meet in Northern Ireland are vibrant and looking forward to the future. Of course the increase in employer national insurance contributions presents challenges for some businesses, but there is no getting away from the fiscal inheritance that this Government found when we arrived in office. The foundations had to be fixed, and that is what we are doing.

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

I associate Conservative Members with the remarks that the Under-Secretary of State made about Ken Reid; he will be very much missed. A belated happy birthday to the Secretary of State for yesterday.

Last week, the Secretary of State suggested to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that the Treasury had not yet conducted a detailed analysis of how the Budget will affect farmers in Northern Ireland. Has he now asked it to do so?

The Treasury has conducted an analysis of the overall number of farms that it thinks will be affected. It is important that people look at all the arrangements that we have put in place, including how, as the hon. Gentleman will know, individuals can pass £1.5 million on to family members and couples up to £3 million when all the allowances are added together, as well as interest-free payments over 10 years. Of course, land transferred seven years before death can go to children with no inheritance tax paid.

I should have congratulated the hon. Gentleman on his double-hatted appointment: he is shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster as well as shadow Secretary of State. He will now have many a merry conversation with himself about the Windsor framework.

And, I hope, conversations with the Secretary of State. He will know that the make-up of farming in Northern Ireland is slightly different from that in the rest of the UK: there is a greater density of farms in sole ownership and agricultural land is worth more. That means that farms in Northern Ireland are more exposed to Labour’s family farms tax. The farmers I have met in Northern Ireland are deeply concerned about that.

As the Secretary of State said, there is disagreement nationally about the figures. On one side, we have the Government who say that not many farms will be affected. On the other side, we have the experts who say that very many farms will be affected. Transparency will help everyone. Will the Secretary of State commit to asking the Chancellor to publish detailed Treasury working on the Budget’s impact on farms in Northern Ireland so that independent experts can check their figures?

To understand the impact, we have to look at the ownership structure of each individual farm. I am not entirely sure whether the hon. Gentleman is advocating that the Government should do that for all farms right across the country. It will be for farmers to look at the arrangements that will apply from 2026 and to take advice on how they can ensure that they can continue to pass their family farms to their children and grandchildren.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

Total income from farming in Northern Ireland fell by 44% last year amid volatile markets, soaring costs and declining output. More than 6,000 Northern Ireland farmers recently gathered in the Eikon exhibition centre to highlight the impact that the changes to agricultural property relief will have on their sector. With dairy farming facing serious economic challenges and gross agricultural output declining, can the Secretary of State commit to publishing a full impact assessment of APR removal for Northern Ireland’s farming sector, as well as its wider implications?

As I indicated in answer to the same question a moment ago, until we understand the ownership structure of each farm, I do not see how an impact assessment that would answer the hon. Member’s question could be done. Now that farmers know what the new arrangements are going to be, I urge them to take advice. There are a number of things that they can do. Last week, I met the Ulster Farmers’ Union and a number of young farmers, and I am in no doubt about the concern that they have expressed. It is really important that we discuss it on the basis of the facts and that people look at how they can plan for their future.