UK government urged to act over rising cost of energy

The UK government needs to step in and provide some level of support for households and businesses struggling with the rising cost of energy, Northern Ireland's economy minister has said.

Caoimhe Archibald said she has directly raised the issue with the UK energy secretary because the Stormont Executive does not have the level of finance required to help.

"I think it's been very well documented and talked about how challenging our budgetary outlook is across all departments," the Sinn Féin minister said.

"So the type of support, the type of intervention in a crisis situation would need to come from the British Treasury."

Archibald was commenting after the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer vowed to help people in Northern Ireland struggling with the cost of living.

Starmer said he had also asked the Treasury minister to talk to the Northern Ireland executive about the oil-based heating in homes and "how we can coordinate our response to this" due to the increase in prices since the US attack on Iran.

"We all hope that this current conflict will de-escalate as soon as possible," Archibald told BBC Northern Ireland's The View.

"But if it continues and if we continue to see these really high prices that are challenging for particularly vulnerable households, but also businesses, then in my view, we do need to see the British government stepping in and providing some level of support.

"And I have raised that directly with the energy minister in Britain and also written to him to ask that that is immediately looked at, because we need to be prepared if it is the case that this continues, that some support can be provided."

Almost two-thirds of homes (62.5%) in Northern Ireland use oil for heating, the highest proportion among UK nations.

Industry data suggests prices have more than doubled since the US-Israel war with Iran began.

All households in Northern Ireland are set to get a £30 per year reduction in electricity bills as part of a UK government scheme.

It will be a Northern Ireland-specific version of an initiative being implemented in the rest of the UK.

Introducing the scheme requires new legislation so it may not be operating until later this year or next year.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has criticised Stormont's Department for the Economy (DfE) for not moving more quickly on the issue.

The money is ringfenced for electricity costs so cannot be used for other purposes.

Earlier, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson said it struck "a strange chord" that political leaders in Northern Ireland would call on Sir Keir to act on high energy prices when there was funding "waiting to be dispensed".

"He was as aghast as I was to discover that £81m is sitting there waiting to be dispensed to assist consumers in Northern Ireland," Robinson said.

The DUP criticised the DfE after its top official was unable to provide details of the scheme when taking questions from MLAs at Stormont on Tuesday.

The typical annual household electricity bill in Northern Ireland is about £1,000.

Archibald hit back at DUP claims that her department was sitting on funding.

"It's important to say there is not a pot of £81m sitting there," she said.

"What has been talked about this week is either misinformation deliberately or somebody doesn't understand what the situation actually is."

The reduction in household electricity bills by £30 per year, would be for a period of three years, but the minister said that requires legislation to be passed at Westminster which she expects to happen by the summer.

The Northern Ireland Assembly's Economy Committee is due to meet on Monday for an emergency committee meeting on the issue.

DUP assembly member Philip Brett, who chairs the committee has welcomed the move and said the minister is "now facing significant and difficult questions".

"I have been asking questions of the department for months, yet it is only when publicly embarrassed at Tuesday's committee that we see a scramble to cover the ignorance and inaction which seems to define the Department's approach," he said.

Archibald told The View she had a "demanding" diary in the coming days and "will confirm with the committee whether I am able to attend or not as soon as possible".

"We are not getting an additional £81m, this is not how this will happen, this is a reduction that will come off people's bills, it is through a particular type of funding that comes from the Treasury, so there isn't a pot of £80m sitting," she added.

Previously, a spokesperson for the DfE said "legislation is needed to make these payments to consumers in both Britain and here".

"This is currently being developed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in Westminster, and is expected to be progressed before the summer recess.

"The department is working with the Utility Regulator and NIE Networks to ensure local people benefit from this funding."

The View will be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland at 22:40 GMT on Thursday.