Stormont: Executive to meet again over budget offer

Alliance has said any agreement on a financial package should be tied to commitments to reform the Stormont institutions.

Its leader Naomi Long said it was important to have those conversations in parallel, ahead of the next assembly election in May 2027.

Ulster Unionist leader Jon Burrows said there was “going to have to be a meeting of minds between His Majesty’s government and the political parties” on any financial arrangement.

“We certainly accept the premise that we need to come to this with credibility ….so we don’t keep asking for more.”

The SDLP – Stormont’s official opposition – said the executive could not shirk its responsibility to agree a budget.

Its leader Claire Hanna also met the secretary of state on Monday to press the case for reforming the executive and assembly.

“We don’t need months and months of negotiation in a stately home, everybody knows what needs to be done,” she said.

“If they’re not done we’re going to be right back here and if we fail to put these mechanisms in place ahead of the next election we’re facing into more lost years.”