Northern Ireland is in the Red. Image via Wikipedia

Last year the Treasury published a consultation document seeking ideas as to how Northern Ireland’s economy should be rebalanced.

The document pulled no punches in defining the endemic problems of Northern Ireland’s economy and its massive over-dependence on the British public purse. It stopped short at pointing fingers at some of the underlying causes of this dependency culture – such as a stunted Party-political system and successive British governments that preferred to throw money at a problem rather than deal with the systemic disease. The troubles were part of the reason for the creation of a Potemkin economy – but not the whole reason.

However, the document at least details, in its ghastliness, just how sick our economy really is:

• Productivity remains low, with productivity per filled job being 85.3 per cent of the UK average, lower than all other regions other than Wales
• Low productivity is largely due to under-representation of high productivity sectors in Northern Ireland
• Levels of venture capital funding are lower in Northern Ireland than in all other UK regions – and the few VC firms that are ‘active’ are largely dependent on state funding
• Over the past five years business expenditure on R&D in Northern Ireland has averaged 0.69 per cent of GVA compared to 1.23 per cent for the UK as a whole. In addition, business expenditure on R&D in Northern Ireland is heavily focused on a small number of companies, with just 10 companies accounting for some 57 per cent of all business R&D investment in 2009.
• Over 30 per cent of all Northern Ireland jobs are in the public sector compared to a UK average of around 21 per cent
• Northern Ireland’s economic inactivity rate remains high at 28.4 per cent compared to the UK average of 23.3 per cent, and is the highest rate in all of the 12 UK regions.

The long and short of all of this is that Northern Ireland’s fiscal deficit is vast: equating to over £5,000 per person – which is some three times larger than the UK average.

And nothing, substantial, seems to be being done to address this. Yes, the consultation resulted in lots of submissions, but radical action needs to be taken to address the endemic problem.

In terms of addressing the problem the Executive at Stormont is not fit for purpose – nor are the Departments responsible for economic development. The political parties all define their effectiveness based on how much cash they can wrestle from the Treasury – thereby perpetuating the economics of hand-out.  And there are no strong lobby groups arguing the case for the following:

• Active reduction of the size of the State’s involvement in the economy
• Intolerance for absurd State-funded hand-outs to people and groups who don’t deserve them
• Reduction in ludicrous and crippling local taxes – especially taxes on business and commerce
• Accountability of political Parties based on hard, tangible economic related outcomes

So I’m proposing creating such a Think-Tank, Lobby Group – whatever you think it should be called.

If you would like to get involved in this initiative please contact me by completing the little form below. I’d be keen to hear from you if you’d like to join a steering committee, write some blog posts, undertake some research or just lend your support.

I’ll let you guess which of the stars is my daughter.

Over 1,000 kids, staff and supporters were involved in the making of this and it shows the wonderful sense of community at a wonderful Grammar School.

(I should make a disclaimer that I also attended the school – although rather a long time ago).

The Conservative Party Chairman has written to the UUP recommending the winding-up of the UUP next year.

I was today forwarded a letter that has been sent to all members of the Conservative Party in Northern Ireland.  The letter suggests that the Conservative Party chairman, Lord Feldman of Elstree, has addressed a letter to the Ulster Unionist leader, Tom Elliott, outlining an offer to “move Conservatism forward in Northern Ireland.”

The letter to local Conservative Party members continues, “This offer will involve the dissolution of the UUP early next year and the formation of a new Conservative led party, under the constitution of the national Conservative party, which will operate along the lines of the parties in Scotland and Wales.

“This offer is being made with the express approval of the Prime Minister, the Board of the Conservative Party, as well as the Chairman of the Northern Ireland Conservative Party, Irwin Armstrong.

“It proposes a Northern Ireland Conservative party which can reach out to everyone in Northern Ireland, irrespective of background and tradition, unencumbered by the conflict and divisions which mark our past.”

If this move truly means the winding-up of the Ulster Unionist Party – then this is a move to be welcomed.  However, I look forward to hearing the response from the UUP leadership.

The move almost certainly means that a large cohort of UUP members has broken ranks with the UUP leadership and now wants to do business with the Conservative Party – while building a new local, non-sectarian identity.  That, also, is to be welcomed.

Read coverage inspired by this post…

Dale & Co

Slugger O’Toole

BBC Northern Ireland

Dr Brian Crowe of the UUP didn't approve of my sharing a platform with Professor Richard Dawkins (pictured). Image via Wikipedia

I have to admit to being naturally drawn to stories about the Ulster Unionist Party making a public arse of itself.  But the (Rev) Brian Crowe story is almost too much.

I first met Dr/Rev Brian Crowe in the very earliest days of the “negotiations” between the UUP and the Conservative Party. In those days he was Head of Policy for the UUP. He claimed to be a policy wonk and talked a lot about the CDU in Germany.  We didn’t hit it off.  I don’t think he liked me.

But it was some time later that we “met” online.  I don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook – I rarely update my status. However, any time I visited it appeared that Brian Crowe was there. He reminded me of an Aunt of mine (dead now) who used to spend a lot of her time in Woodsides department store in Lisburn for no obvious reason.

But on one occasion (Dr/Rev) Brian and I got into an exchange. He took exception to the fact that I’d once shared a platform with Professor Richard Dawkins and he felt the need to put me right on my atheism.  The trail, I can’t find, but I believe his argument was that Atheists were hypocrites – we were little different to religious fundamentalists.

I pointed out, of course, that Atheists didn’t tell people how to live their lives or to lay down strict moral standards – it was all about reciprosity and ensuring we adhered to a common, decent humanity. But he took issue with this and argued that morality was why we needed Christianity. Christian morality, according to Dr Brian, was what made modern democracies.

I don’t claim to be the most moral person on the world but hopefully I have picked up a wee bit of morality without too much exposure to religion, or scriptures or moral hectoring – my upbringing helped. Perhaps Dr Brian was less lucky. But every time a hypocrite falls I do get some guilty pleasure.  Wrong I know. But enjoyable all the same.

His rant is about the removal of funding for NI sports facilities being the fault of the Conservatives. Not, you’ll note, the profligate nut-job of a government that came before the Con/Lib coalition.

By definition, therefore, Nelson takes a dim view of the UK government trying to get a rampant public sector deficit under control. He also seems to have an issue with Northern Ireland playing its part in supporting the effort to plug the fiscal gap.

Unionist eh? Little Ulster mentalist more like.

Image via Wikipedia

Peter Robinson questioned, yesterday, whether Northern Ireland Water – a government company owned and financed by the Executive – was fit for purpose. It’s clear that he is manoeuvring himself a good distance away from the body that is taking the bulk of the political flak from Northern Ireland’s own Waterleakgate scandal.

The ‘fitness for purpose’ phrase was used by another DUP politician, Lord Morrow, in a debate about Northern Ireland Water in the Assembly in September. However, Lord Morrow did not highlight under-investment as the reason why NIW, or the service it provided, was under-performing. Lord Morrow was referring to governmental and organisational matters when he asked Conor Murphy, the Minister with ultimate responsibility for water, how he might reorganise and reform NI Water.

And, when Conor Murphy answered, he made clear that he, too, had no issues relating to the levels of investment – or, indeed, the commitment of NIW staff:

“NI Water has been doing a good job on the delivery of water and sewerage infrastructure. It certainly received a substantial amount of public money, but the water and sewerage infrastructure has improved substantially, after decades of underinvestment, and a great credit is due to people in NIW for that.”

The Minister, back in March – shortly after agreeing NI Water’s 3 Year Plan – was at pains to point out that “no-one can deny that the water and sewerage infrastructure has improved radically.”

Indeed, I have read most of the debates in the Assembly relating to NI Water during the course of 2010 and can find no instances of MLAs – or indeed the Minister – arguing for much greater levels of investment in NI Water. The Minister has been making a number of political points relating to renationalising NI Water (at an apparent cost of £50m or so) – but there has been no clamour on the part of any of the political parties to substantially increase investment in Northern Ireland’s water infrastructure.

Even after the announcement of the Comprehensive Spending Review – that made clear that Northern Ireland’s capital budgets would be substantially reduced – there were no calls on the part of local politicians to raise funds to substantially increase infrastructure spending on water infrastructure. Instead, the Executive decided to defer water charges (the most likely source of additional capital funding) for four years.

NI Water spokespeople have made the point over the last few days that investment in Northern Ireland water network infrastructure is well behind the rest of the UK and that comparative network investment levels are around 50% less than in Scotland. And yet no MLAs have drawn attention to this continued under-investment (including the Minister responsible for NI Water).

Yesterday there were calls for ‘heads to roll’. Indeed, NI Water may be inefficient and badly run (frankly, I don’t know). However, the buck should stop at the Minister.

The Executive, and an unquestioning Assembly, are more responsible for under-investment in Northern Ireland’s water infrastructure than the body required to deliver such investment.

Related Articles

• NI Water Fiasco: Executive Responsible (jeffpeel.net)
• Crunch Talks Over ‘Shambolic’ NI Water Crisis (news.sky.com)
• Minister: Buck stops with NI Water (mirror.co.uk)

Composed mostly of nice people, The Parsley Coalition might include, I’m advised, former UCUNFian Trevor Ringland and Dawn Purvis – former front woman for the PUP (who left because of that organisation’s association with Loyalist paramilitarism).

Therefore Parsley’s People might have a slightly lefty hue. Although, no doubt, Parsley will sprinkle his fairy dust over everything – obviating the need for any coherent policy position. And he’ll probably sprinkle his new Party’s blog with the odd post about football as a cunning diversionary tactic.

In short, just a little larger than Northern Ireland with a substantially bigger and more positive footprint. This is a society that has embraced democracy and outward focus instead of a fixation on Slovenia or even the Balkans.

I’ve just returned from the gala dinner where delegates from across the world – mostly diplomats – heard General Colin Powell outline why Slovenia punched above its diplomatic weight. Now I’m listening – admittedly intermittently – to a presentation by the OECD on why innovation and technology are drivers of economic growth.

Northern Ireland’s shambolic political parties could never put on a show like this because all they do, collectively, is contemplate their navels.

Well done Slovenia.