I err on the side of optimism. I don’t know about you but I’m constantly frustrated at how the media comment on every cough and squeak of political debate but skate over the actual details of the policies that affect real life. Political chatter is the easy bit; they’ve being doing for decades, ever since politicians insisted they weren’t responsible for anything like the terrible issues of life and death which were always down to somebody else, paramilitaries or the security forces, anybody but themselves. This habit didn’t really change much during the first two decades on the on-off Assembly when so much was reduced to the zero sum game of sectarian struggle. It hasn’t gone way yet, not by any means, witness the gross elevation of “respect “issues when real respect was draining away. But the times they are a- changing.
In its first full week, the Assembly has struck a spurious note of unity around being conned or tricked by Secretary of State Julian Smith into agreeing to ambitious spending plans before nailing down all the funding. It is hardly impressive to admit you’ve been conned – unless you’ve been conned willingly to obtain an alibi. But who needs an alibi before they’ve had a chance to do anything?
A school child on a Stormont education programme could have told them two things: one, get the money sorted first and second, oh yes you don’t get it all in a single year or even two years. Some MLAs may be in denial but I pay most of them the compliment of really knowing the score and indulging in the old bazaar technique of railing against the seller in order to get the price down – or in their case, up. And party competition hasn’t gone away. The DUP screwed funds out of the May government through confidence and supply; so now a Sinn Fein finance minister, deprived of real leverage, has to scream and shout.
But it hasn’t been such as a bad start, at least from my remote vantage point . The episode of The View I watched last night displayed the growing pains of a maturing Assembly. After a little venting against Smith from the nationalist left, the five-party panel of left, centre and right, unionist, nationalist and Alliance united to “get on with it.” After proving that they can govern, they vow to return to Whitehall and ask for more, more money. That was my overall impression. They’d got it and it’s big advance. The natural rhythm of parties manacled together was to head for the lowest common denominator. Perhaps now the music is changing.
Political debate needs to be matched by information and analysis. An “extra” £ 1billion or 2, new money, already promised, some a carryover from confidence and supply, Barnett consequentials?
I don’t pretend to have it straight nor do I – and you – know if whatever it is, is the last word.
I know however that the Department of Finance’s explainer was absurd, merely the statement of Conor Murphy’s bottom line. Civil servants should press for a fuller account. Just a tiny example. How is the £19 billion budget for 2019-20 actually being spent?
The new Fiscal Council the parties have been blocking for years will improve transparency but we shouldn’t have to wait. Civil society, academe and the media have to make the switch from taking refuge behind the political din and face up to the tough choices themselves. It will be no easier for some of them than the politicians. But the politicians cannot be left isolated and exposed to the public fury of the inevitably disappointed. We really are all in this together. It was public pressure that in the end forced the Assembly’s return. There should no let up. The task has only just begun.
Former BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London
Discover more from Slugger O'Toole
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
