IN a recent article, economics professor John FitzGerald points out that the north has always presumed Britain will make up any shortfall to pay for public services and infrastructure.

Until the last decade that had worked quite well. No longer.

The north receives more per head of public spending than any other UK region – 19% in the 2024 figures – yet still makes a mess of it.

The executive spends 3.5 times per head on agriculture than the rest of the UK and twice as much on public housing, but services are disastrous.

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The DUP’s insistence on selection at 11 disadvantages working-class voters, particularly their own, and produces a poorly educated work force which damages productivity.

The much-vaunted NHS, often given as a reason for staying in the UK, has conspicuously failed. It already gobbles up half the block grant and is on course by 2030 to swallow most of it.

Anyone who can, pays for private health care, which is burgeoning with new........

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