Something fishy
During Northern Ireland questions, Owen Paterson disagreed with his predecessor Shaun Woodward about the potential cost and advisability of devolving the power to lower corporation tax to Stormont. Mr Paterson said noone knew the cost to the local block grant, but some consultants had estimated it at between £100M and £150M. Mr Woodward retorted that the Varney report on the topic commissioned by the last government had determined the cost would be much higher, around £300M.
Irked by the exchange, Mr Paterson's rhetoric turned distinctly fishy. He told Mr Woodward that some of his colleagues had been left the odd "prawn behind the radiator" by their Labour predecessors, but when it came to the Northern Ireland economy and its dependency on the state he had been left "a whole bag full of langoustines behind the radiator". Things must be getting distinctly whiffy inside the Northern Ireland Office.
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