Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“I am amazed that just two weeks after Peter Robinson said Stormont was “dysfunctional” he has revealed that the Department of Finance is preparing a paper examining the costs and benefits of devolving taxes to Northern Ireland.
“The idea that an Assembly which cannot handle the powers it already has should be handed additional fiscal powers is the road to disaster. You cannot with any degree of credibility say that your government is “not fit for purpose” one day and talk about taking control of major economic levers the next!
“The joint-First Minister’s comments are all the more bizarre when we contrast them with the remarks of Sammy Wilson. While Mr Robinson describes the devolution of corporation tax was “doable and valuable” Sammy Wilson was quoted in Glasgow newspaper The Herald as saying:
“On a competency level and the more things we devolve the more difficult it becomes for the coalition to manage them. It would be a disaster. We have reached the impasse over welfare reform and built in to our system is the power of veto.
“The more fiscal powers the more costly it will be for Northern Ireland. If there is more devolved to Scotland we are going to get the same. In practical terms given our set-up we can’t handle this. Scotland does not have the same coalition set-up.”
“There are clearly deep divisions within the DUP on this issue. Indeed, it would seem that the First Minister’s position today is completely at odds with his own just a fortnight ago!
“Stormont’s squabbles over cuts and welfare reform show that it is demonstrably unfit to handle the devolution of corporation tax or other taxation powers. If we want to have similar powers devolved to those being proposed to Scotland then we need a similar form of devolution, a democratic one with an opposition and which affords the electorate the opportunity to remove their government.”