O'Dowd presses Treasury on National Insurance increases
Date published:
Finance Minister John O’Dowd met his Welsh and Scottish counterparts and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in Cardiff today.
Speaking following the Finance Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee (F:ISC), Minister O’Dowd said: “I welcomed the opportunity to meet and engage with my counterparts ahead of the upcoming Spending Review. I want to grow the economy and make life better for the people we all serve and investment in public services is central to this.
“Today was a useful forum to raise the consequences of decisions taken in Westminster. I highlighted the adverse impact the National Insurance increase will have on public services if costs aren’t met in full. A shortfall in funding simply isn’t acceptable and there needs to be a change in approach.”
Minister O’Dowd continued: "I raised a number of other pressing issues including Hospitality VAT, childcare, changes to Agriculture Property Relief and Casement Park.
“Multi-year budgets have the potential to be a game-changer but to be effective they will need to be coupled with increased investment in public services.”
Notes to editors:
- Media enquiries should be addressed to the Department of Finance Press Office on Tel: 028 9081 6724 or email dof.pressoffice@finance-ni.gov.uk.
- Photo caption: (L to R) Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones MP, Mark Drakeford MS, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language, Shona Robison MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government and Finance Minister John O’Dowd MLA
- To keep up to date with news from the Department you can follow us on the following social media channels:
- X - @dptfinance
- Facebook - @dptfinance
- Instagram - @department_of_finance
- LinkedIn - Department of Finance
- The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service For Media Enquiries Only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.