Robinson and McGuinness set out budget position to Chancellor

First Minister Rt. Hon. Peter D. Robinson MLA and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MP MLA met with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the Rt Hon. George Osborne MP today.

First Minister Peter D. Robinson said: "In what was a very useful meeting with the Chancellor we again reiterated the need for the UK government to substantively support our efforts to grow the private sector here.

"The Coalition Government in Westminster is already on the record saying that it wants to rebalance the local economy. We will continue to press them to deliver the sort of support that will make that happen, we need more than words."

Mr McGuinness said: "We also took the opportunity to emphasis if there were huge cuts to the block grant there would be an almost immediate impact on the wider economy. Less local spending power would have an inevitable knock-on effect for the private sector. Rebalancing the economy would be even more difficult and that is why the coalition must be careful not to make a bad situation worse.

"Government contracts currently support more than 40% of the construction industry – we have had record levels of spending on infrastructure since devolution, double the amount spent under direct rule."

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