Cost of living: £400 energy discount for NI confirmed, says Murphy

The UK government has confirmed it will deliver £400 energy bill discounts in Northern Ireland, Finance Minister Conor Murphy has said.

He was speaking after a meeting of a taskforce set up by the Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to look at how to issue the discounts in Northern Ireland.

Households in Great Britain will start receiving the discount from October.

Mr Murphy said confirmation that it would apply in Northern Ireland was "long overdue".

However, he added there was no guarantee that Northern Ireland households would receive it at the same time as those in the rest of the UK.

"The idea that we have a date in November was not mentioned in the meeting," he said.

"The only timeframe that was suggested in the meeting was possibly early in the new year with a sincere hope to do this more quickly.

"We will work with the Department of the Economy, we will work with the Treasury and the business department in Britain to try and deliver this as quickly as we possibly can.

"Our objective is to try and get support delivered as quickly as we can to people.

"But from my perspective in the meeting there are absolutely no guarantees that this will be delivered this side of Christmas."

However, Economy Minister Gordon Lyons told BBC News NI: "During the meeting it was said that if all normal processes were to be followed it was likely that these payments would not take place until February 2023.

"However, as ministers we were asked if we were content for the chancellor and business secretary to essentially do away with the 90-day consultation period that it would take.

"We both gave consent to that so if you take 90 days away from February I think that's where we're going to end up - in and around November."

The taskforce, made up of UK government and Stormont ministers, has committed to meeting regularly until the issue is resolved.

Energy bills are set to rise sharply, prompting calls for the government to offer more help.

The latest increase was announced on Friday by SSE Airtricity, which is putting up gas and electricity prices on 1 October.

The chancellor said "energy prices are rising fast and I know that this is causing great concern".

"That is why I brought together Northern Ireland ministers and the business and energy secretary this morning, and we reached agreement to support the UK government delivering £400 off energy bills this winter," he added.

"This is a vital part of our £37bn support package and we will continue to work together to ensure that the people of Northern Ireland get the support they need as soon as possible."

The Barnett formula is used to calculate additional funding when there are changes to UK government spending that affects devolved services.

But without a functioning executive at Stormont, money allocated from Westminster that way cannot be spent.

Stormont has been without a power-sharing executive since February, due to the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) ongoing protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The party is refusing to nominate a deputy first minister until the post-Brexit trading arrangements are changed, meaning a decision-making executive cannot be formed and the legislative assembly cannot operate.

Other ministers can remain in post, but they are unable to take major policy decisions.