Mr Robinson was speaking following a UK Finance Ministers’ Quadrilateral meeting which took place yesterday in Cardiff. This was the first opportunity Mr Robinson had had to meet with his opposite numbers from England, Scotland and Wales since devolution returned to Northern Ireland in May.
He said:
“I welcomed the opportunity to have an early meeting with the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP and used our discussions as an opportunity to present an overview to him of the emerging work of the new Executive.
“I also had very useful discussions with the Scottish Finance Minister, John Swinney MSP and the Welsh Finance Minister, Jane Hutt AM and we agreed to join forces, as appropriate, to make common cause in the interests of our respective devolved administrations.
“It cannot be stressed strongly enough that the UK regions can register a much stronger case by approaching HM Treasury on a collective basis and, alongside my Scottish and Welsh counterparts, I stressed to Treasury the importance to the devolved administrations of maintaining a significant level of financial flexibility.
“Yesterday was the first opportunity in almost five years for a locally-elected Northern Ireland Minister to engage directly with HM Treasury and reflect our local needs in relation to the Comprehensive Spending Review. Agreement was reached on a series of bilateral meetings over the next few months,”
Mr Robinson added.
