PM set to address NI assembly
Prime Minister David Cameron is due to visit Northern Ireland on Thursday when it is expected he will address the Stormont assembly.
This will come only a day after the First and Deputy First Ministers head to London to meet Mr Cameron, as part of a Plenary Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee.
Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness will be part of a delegation, which will also include Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond and First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones.
UTV’s Political Editor Ken Reid said it is significant that Mr Cameron is planning to follow the meeting up with a trip to Northern Ireland.
“I think there’s been criticism that he’s ignored Northern Ireland since he came here the first week of taking office”, Ken Reid says.
“Not only in Northern Ireland but also in Scotland and Wales, there’s been a feeling that the devolved administrations have been ignored and that it’s time the PM showed some interest. So that’s been followed up and the PM is now coming.”
Public funding is expected to be high on the agenda following the Comprehensive Spending Review last autumn.
The Treasury is currently consulting on giving the Stormont Executive the power to reduce corporation tax in a bid to boost foreign direct investment in the region.
That could be accompanied by significant cuts in the block grant provided by Westminster to run Northern Ireland public services.
Last week, the leaders of the three devolved regions met in Edinburgh and discussed corporation tax.
Mr Salmond also demanded that Scotland be given the powers to cut the tax rate.
