I rise as DUP finance spokesperson. I will be brief, as much of what we might cover today about our finances was discussed in this place yesterday.

The DUP, led by Gavin Robinson MP, has long championed a new needs-based funding model for Northern Ireland, and, without our work, it would not have been possible to be moving forward on an improved funding basis today. However, we have been consistent in our stance that the current financial position is not sufficient and that Northern Ireland needs a long-term plan for our finances to enable us to move forward on a sustainable basis.

We are in an extremely challenging Budget cycle. It is not ideal that we move once again to a single-year Budget position, but we understand that multi-year Budgets are a shared goal of all in the Executive when we move to align with the new comprehensive spending review. It is not ideal that we are progressing a Budget without a Programme for Government, and the need for its urgent agreement and publication is immense. It is also not ideal that, once again, we are progressing the Budget by accelerated passage. However, in our Finance Committee research, we noted that every Budget Bill that has ever been moved here was taken through by accelerated passage. It is an attractive goal to hope that this Executive and Assembly could set a new first by bringing the first ever Budget Bill forward through a full scrutiny process. Let us hope for that in the future. However, today, we are where we are.

Our public services face incredible challenges. Every Department has been awarded significantly less than it bid for, yet compromise has been found. With Departments under pressure and the potential to run out of funding in-year for outside factors like demand on statutory services under the existing 65% Vote on Account, it is necessary that we progress this Budget through accelerated passage to keep our services running.

Satisfactory scrutiny of the Budget has been noted, but a number of Departments, led by their Ministers, need to be clear, open, transparent and honest with their Statutory Committees on their plans for how they will live within their Budget allocations. Each Committee will speak to its own specific issues, and I am grateful that many of them have shared those issues with the Finance Committee.

Difficult decisions need to be taken. As a country, we cannot afford for any Minister or Department to blanket overspend due to dissatisfaction with their Budget allocation and then expect the Assembly to approve additional resources to continuously plug the gap without plans to transform services. Transformation and the delivery of improved value for money need to be a key priority of the Executive in exercising their functions. We need to see improved cross-departmental working, the removal of siloed working and the removal of duplication of tasks.

The Budget needs to be approved to keep Northern Ireland public services running, but it also needs to be used as a baseline and with a commitment to transform our public services, because the 2026-27 financial cliff edge at the end of the financial settlement period will be upon us soon. We cannot continue to roll forward continuously. We need transformation now. We need a Programme for Government and a plan, and we need to see delivery. Our DUP team is committed to that delivery and to continuing to fight for improved finances and a better future for Northern Ireland. We support the Bill.