Trade unions have urged Stormont to agree on a fair budget or face an intensifying programme of industrial action.

The warning comes as the Executive is five months into the latest financial year without an agreed budget.

This means Stormont officials currently have legal powers to spend up to 95% of last year’s funding in their departments.

The Stormont parties have all said they need more funding from London to agree on a budget. However, while talks have been ongoing with the Treasury, no progress to secure further money appears to have been made.

During Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first official visit to Belfast last week, he said he wants to help “move things forward” when it comes to solving Stormont’s budget crisis, but remained in “listening mode”.

In January 2024, unions coordinated the largest walkout in decades during a period of political collapse, with 100,000 public sector workers estimated to have taken part in rallies across Northern Ireland.

The leadership of the trade union movement in the region met this week to discuss what they described as “growing discontent among workers” in both the private and public sectors over the inability of the Stormont Executive and the UK government to agree a budget for Northern Ireland.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) assistant general secretary Gerry Murphy said they previously “forced the political class to face up to its responsibilities” and “will do so again”.

“In January 2024, trade union members across Northern Ireland took part in the largest day of coordinated industrial action witnessed here for decades,” he said.

“This action was necessary because of political stalemate, the absence of a budget and the refusal of the UK government to provide adequate funding for Northern Ireland.

“Here we are, over two and a half years later, and we are met with the very same conditions. While the Executive has been restored, we have no Northern Ireland budget due to political stalemate. While the UK government has since acknowledged its role in underfunding Northern Ireland, it still refuses to provide us with funding equivalent to that in Scotland or Wales.”

Mr Murphy said the trade unions are clear that there “needs to be a fair and enduring settlement to funding for public services in Northern Ireland”.