NI householders face rate rise

The Government has announced plans to raise rates in Northern Ireland by 19% next year.

The increase, which was confirmed by Secretary of State Peter Hain on Tuesday, will see homeowners in Northern Ireland facing an increase of more than £1 a week in the average rates bill.

Combined with the rate set by local councils, a likely rise of about 12-13% for ratepayers is on the cards.

Mr Hain said: "Income from domestic rates in Northern Ireland is only half the equivalent figure in Great Britain. Therefore I propose to increase the domestic regional rate next year by 19%.

"This will represent an increase of around £1 a week in the average domestic rates bill, but compared to previous plans will raise an additional £20 million in each of the next two years. This will help meet the costs of the new priority funding packages for children and young people, science and skills and the environment and energy.

"While this is a large percentage increase, the amounts householders contribute to local public services here will still be much less than 60% of the average for England. That gap will need to be re-visited in the future if we want to maintain local public services at the same level as elsewhere."

The move was immediately criticised by Sinn Fein as "undemocratic, unequal and unacceptable".

Party spokesperson on Regional Development Raymond McCartney said: "This latest measure is set to send the North on a path which will send many households into not only water poverty, where we have fuel poverty levels on the rise, but also further and further into abject poverty levels.

SDLP assembly member John Dallat said there was no justification for the rates rise. "The Secretary of State's comparisons with England and Wales can have little relevance when they operate on a totally different local taxation system and the whole structure of their cost of living is different from ours," he said.

The government has earmarked £16bn for total public spending by 2008 as part of today's decision.

(MB/GB)