3 months ago
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Two of the four city deals for Northern Ireland are understood to still be at risk after the UK government said funding would be paused.
Stormont's Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald said regeneration funding packages in Londonderry and Belfast were expected to go ahead - leaving Mid South West and Causeway Coast and Glens under threat.
The announcement on city deals came on Friday afternoon, just hours before the UK government said it was not going to provide funding to redevelop Belfast's Casement Park in time for Euro 2028.
Archibald called for the Westminster government to reflect on its actions: "Maybe we need a bit of a reset on the reset."
“This is a new Labour government which has talked a lot about resetting and rebuilding relationships, and their actions over the past couple of days haven’t really aligned with those words," Archibald told BBC Northern Ireland's Sunday Politics show.
She said the news about Casement Park "slipping out" on Friday evening seemed "as if the calculation was it was a good day for bad news".
The city deals were intended to fund redevelopment, including innovation hubs, museums and a cable car in the Mournes.
Archibald said she had received confirmation the Derry and Strabane city deal would happen "in black and white", and was "hopeful" for the Belfast deal.
