A choice, not a crisis: why Stormont still has no budget

Misty mountain landscape with green fields below

Seven months into the year, Stormont still has no budget, and this time there is no collapse to blame. Ministers are sitting and a £1.5bn offer is on the table, but the Finance Minister has made more money from London a precondition. That is a choice, not a crisis.

Strange Tale from Wales…

Chris Bryant, MP for the Rhondda, raised this strange business at Westminster. Here’s the BBC report.: (it’s worth watching the video for a Bercow put-down…) Labour and Plaid Cymru are locked in a row about dirty tricks over an assembly election campaign leaflet. The leaflet, which attacks shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, has been posted on the internet. It calls on voters to deny Labour a majority and accuses Mr Hain of plotting behind the back of Welsh Labour leader …

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