Anger as MLAs left out of budget cut talks due to Stormont mess
(WorldNews Politics)

The DUP has accused Sinn Fein of holding Northern Ireland to ransom after Stormont departments were asked to make plans for cuts to their budgets. The Department of Finance has begun a `scoping exercise` to assess how looming spending cuts could be absorbed in the public sector. It has asked the majority of Stormont departments to plan for scenarios in which there would be a 4%, 8% and 12% reduction in their resource budgets for the next two financial years. The Department of Health has been exempted, as no health service cuts are envisaged. DUP MLA Christopher Stalford said: `This scoping exercise is being carried out in the absence of any input from...