Michelle O’Neill to tackle Starmer for ‘prioritising weapons of war over people’

By Rebecca Black, Press Association

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill has vowed to confront the British prime minister over “prioritising weapons of war while people are struggling to pay for food and energy”.

The Stormont leader said last week’s UK budget had been a missed opportunity, describing the decision to increase defence spending as the latest move in London to lead more people to think seriously about constitutional change.

Ms O’Neill said she intends to put that to Sir Keir Starmer “very strongly” and “rehearse the anger” felt at the “blunt reality” of “what they call defence spending, it’s weapons of war over cost of living”.

Mr Starmer is expected to attend a meeting of the British Irish Council (BIC) in Cardiff on Friday.

Ms O’Neill said she also intends to raise concerns about the UK government’s approach to the legacy of the Troubles as well as the Gaza with him.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Ms O’Neill described the BIC as a useful opportunity to talk to other leaders about areas of shared interest, but said key to her will be putting directly to Mr Starmer concerns over the budget.

“The Budget was such a missed opportunity to support workers and families, and whilst people are getting it really tight, this government in London has chosen to prioritise weapons of war whilst people are struggling to pay for their food bills and heat their homes,” she told Press Association.

“The opportunity that comes with tomorrow is that I get a chance to put it directly to Keir Starmer that his government’s actions in prioritising weapons of war over cost of living support for families is causing a lot of detriment to people here.

“It demonstrates for people also that our interests will never be served a minister in London.”

Ms O’Neill said since Mr Starmer became UK prime minister in 2024 they have a number of engagements with him, but none have borne fruit in terms of the issues they have raised.

I want to put that to him very strongly, and I want to rehearse to him the anger that people feel here

“So for me the opportunity tomorrow is really to put it directly to him that this Budget missed the opportunity completely,” she said.

“People are really struggling with the price of food and the price of energy, and they have prioritised weapons of war over all of that, I want to put that to him very strongly, and I want to rehearse to him the anger that people feel here.

“We have a lot of small businesses also who are going to the wall because of VAT and all the other costs, they have done nothing to support those businesses.

“He or any other minister in London never prioritise the interests of the people here and never will.”

The UK government said that Stormont would receive an extra £370 million to spend.

However finance minister John O’Dowd said just £18.8 million would come in the current financial year and it fell “far short of what is needed to support the delivery of frontline public services”.

Stormont finances are strained with work ongoing to find the money to deliver pay parity for public service workers, including those in health and police.

On Thursday Ms O’Neill claimed there had been “a lot of spin from Keir Starmer” around a “record settlement” in Northern Ireland’s budget settlement.

“The fact is we are coming from decades of austerity, decades of policy choices in London that have really starved our public services, that have meant our health service is decimated, so to tell us that we’ve had a record settlement is actually quite an insult,” she said.

Ms O’Neill added the actions of London governments are turning more on to opting for a united Ireland independent of the UK in the future.

“This is why I believe that more and more people are actually turning to the conversation around where we’re going to be in the future, constitutional change,” she said.

“Taking control of our own fortunes, having all the levers at our hand to be able to make policy choices which help us invest in public services and get people through a cost-of-living crisis is where I think we need to focus.

“I want us to have a really honest and hopeful conversation about how we can build something better, talking about an all-island health service, education system and improving people’s standard of living.

“I believe that’s where people are at, and a lot of the time people can be ahead of politics, and I believe on this, that is the case.”