Allister accuses Stormont Executive of backtracking on PMS deal
01 February 2011
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:-
“To add to the grief of the PMS savers there now is unfolding a saga of backtracking by Stormont on the deal agreed with the Treasury. That deal was clear: a loan facility of £175m to the Administrator and a Mutual Access Fund, to give early access for smaller savers to their money, which was to be funded by contributions of £25m from Whitehall and £25m from Stormont and, initially, £1m from the Presbyterian Church.
“Now, though the Treasury is standing by its £25m contribution, the Executive, shamefully, is re-writing the script to convert their £25m into a mere loan.
“This is what the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Sassoon, answered on 17 January in the House of Lords to a pertinent question from Lord (Ken) Maginnis:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sassoon on 22 December (WA 352), whether in the original Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) proposal to rescue the Presbyterian Mutual Society, they believed that the NIE £25 million contribution would form a loan or a donation. [HL5586]
The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The proposal put forward by, and agreed with, the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE), was that the £25 million from HM Government (which will not be repaid) is to be matched by an equal contribution from the NIE. This enables the NIE to bring forward its own plans to address the needs of Presbyterian Mutual Society members.
It could not be more clear, Westminster is giving a non-refundable £25m, which was to be matched by an equal contribution from Stormont.
Yet, on 24th January in answer to an Assembly Written Question (AQW 2632/11) the First Minister said,
First Minister and deputy First Minister: The Mutual Access Fund will give PMS members early access to their share capital pending the Administrator/Scheme Supervisor managing the orderly realisation of PMS assets over time. HM Treasury is prepared to contribute to the fund and £25 million has been provided in the Spending Review with an additional minimum £1 million contribution from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
The proposed Executive contribution would be £25 million which would be recovered from the Administrator in later years.
The proposed solution remains subject to Executive, Assembly, and EU agreement.
“So, despite the Treasury being quite clear that the Stormont Executive committed to matching their £25m contribution, Stormont, shamefully, is trying to renege and merely loan the money, demanding its repayment on the disposal of PMS assets before the savers get any of the balance monies then still due to them.
“Not only is it essential that the Executive sticks to the deal done with the Treasury, but it is right that they do so as some small recompense for DETI’s responsibility for the development of the PMS crisis. The Treasury Select Committee was very clear in finding that the crisis was facilitated by a regulatory gap and that such was the responsibility of DETI. So, it is only but right that they should put their hand in their pocket to the relatively modest extent of £25m. Instead, they are conniving to welch on the deal with London, meaning, in effect, Stormont is giving the PMS savers nothing, only repayable loans, which they demand are repaid from the realised assets even though savers may still be short at that stage.
I am appalled at how the Executive is behaving and call upon them to live up to the deal negotiated with London.”
