I thank the Finance Minister for bringing forward the Budget (No. 2) Bill, particularly given the challenging time pressures that her and her officials were under. Bringing forward a balanced and fair Budget is challenging at the best of times, but doing so after 14 years of British Government austerity, when the bids for funding far outweigh the funding that is available, required exceptional skill.

In addition to dealing with the chronic underfunding that the North has been subjected to by successive British Governments, it must be noted that the Minister had to develop a single-year Budget. That is far from ideal, but unfortunately, as we are in the last year of the current spending review, a multi-year Budget simply was not possible. However, I am hopeful that, as we move into the new spending review period, a multi-year Budget will be developed to give Departments the certainty that they need to plan ahead.

The Budget has been a challenging one for all Departments. Only £1 billion of resource DEL was available for allocation, set against bids totalling £3 billion, and it was a similar picture for capital DEL. In the allocations, Health was prioritised, as it received over 50% of the available funding. Indeed, Health received an additional £1·6 billion, as well as more than half of the funding made available in June monitoring. That underlines the point that Health is a priority for Sinn Féin, even when there are limited resources.

The Budget aligns with the key priorities set out by Executive parties, which are expected to be included in the Programme for Government. They include the £25 million set aside for childcare and the £47 million set aside for transformation.

As a member of the AERA Committee and my party's spokesperson on the environment, I want to specifically mention the £1·5 million that is being made available for Lough Neagh. Earlier today, the AERA Minister updated us on his Lough Neagh report and action plan. I hope that that helps to reassure those who live near the lough that Departments are working together to protect and restore it.

Of course, many worthy and important projects will not receive the vital funding that they need. Unfortunately, the British Government's previous Budget delivered cuts amounting to £1 billion, decimating our public services and having a disproportionate impact on those who were already struggling most with the cost-of-living crisis. The Finance Minister has been relentless in her battles with the Treasury to secure the funding that the North deserves.

The interim fiscal framework that the Finance Minister has secured will go some way to addressing our chronic underfunding by the British Government. The agreement sets the fiscal floor at 124%, meaning that, for the first time in a generation, the North will, in future years, be funded at or above its relative need. That is a radical change to how the North is funded and will help us to mitigate British Government underfunding in the future. The new interim framework also alleviates concerns that we face a cliff edge in 2026, as the fiscal floor will be baselined at the relevant spending review period.

The Minister has done excellent work within the extremely limited powers available to her to mitigate, as much as possible, the effects of Tory austerity. However, in order to provide the Budget stability and security that we require, we must see greater devolution of fiscal powers to the Assembly. The current system gives the Treasury, which is not accountable to the people here, far too much of a say over our finances. Undoing the damage caused by years of British Government austerity and underfunding will require greater flexibility around Budgets, greater borrowing powers and more fiscal devolution.