Editorial: The delay in a budget and programme for government shows up the dysfunctional assembly

Morning View

Stormont yesterday passed a budget, something that it had not done for three years.​​

This happened despite the SDLP, which is in opposition, refusing to support it and the Ulster Unionist party too, which is in government.

Even so, a budget has been passed.

Meanwhile, a programme for government has not been passed. Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein inevitably blamed that latter failure on the UK government and its decision to call an election, but the delay is also a reflection of profound differences between the main parties as to what will be in it.

In effect, we have had a reminder of how dysfunctional Stormont is within months of its restoration – something indeed that was evident within days of the February return.

As this newspaper keeps pointing out, the multi-party forced system means that no party is ever prepared to take a difficult decision, and so no difficult decision is taken and crises keep building, many of which will be dramatic when they erupt.

The parties all supported the strikes. Or if that is wrong and some of them in fact opposed the strikes they were far too cowardly to show even a trace of leadership on the issue. As this column pointed out yesterday, large pay awards across the board mean there is utterly insufficient money for the services themselves. Pot holes are just one manifestation of this bad governance.

The BBC ran almost daily stories on people who were supposedly affected by the lack of Stormont when in fact the return of Stormont hasn’t solved a thing and shows no sign of doing so.

But here is the rub. The dysfunctional nature of the system will never be reformed unless it is done in a way that disadvantages unionists. There has been a clamour to remove minority protections now unionists are in the minority.