February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
But the Northern Secretary, Peter Hain, told the politicians that if they wanted to run the place themselves, setting their own budgets, they should agree terms to restore the Assembly.
Otherwise, he said, he would impose the charges irrespective of the united opposition, meaning the regional rate, set by central government, will rise by 19 percent next year.
Hain said the increases were necessary to pay for essential public services and that the income from domestic rates in Northern Ireland was “only half the equivalent figure in Great Britain”.
The raised level of rates will not include water charges, which the British government is also intent on introducing — despite again uniting opposition across the political divide. Rates will increase against by an estimated six percent in the year 2007-08 as the government introduces the water charges.
Hain said the