Foster and Bell give conflicting accounts of energy scheme

Former DUP minister Jonathan Bell and the First Minister Arlene Foster have provided conflicting accounts about the controversial Renewable Heat Incentive scheme which could result in an overspend of more than £400 million.

Both DUP politicians accused one another of acting aggressively to each other with Ms Foster also rejecting a claim by Mr Bell that he wanted to close down a revised version of the scheme in January but that she insisted it be kept open for an additional two weeks.

Mr Bell also alleged that some DUP Stormont special advisers interfered so that an earlier and more costly version of the scheme, which he said he wanted to end in October last year, was kept open for several additional weeks.

Mr Bell, a former minister of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI), told the BBC's Nolan Show last night that he faced interference when he sought to shut down the renewable heating scheme. He was pictured praying with evangelical supporters before doing the interview with Stephen Nolan.

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The scheme was flawed because unlike a more restricted British model, it did not have a cap on usage and provided overgenerous subsidies.

“Factually it is on the record I wanted to close the scheme on the 1st of October. The outside interference of the special advisers ensured that the scheme was kept open for another four weeks,” Mr Bell told the programme.

He also claimed that the advisers wanted to “cleanse” from the record references to Ms Foster relating to the scheme, an allegation the advisers have denied.

By November 17th this year, corrections were applied so that it was in line with the more controlled British system. But between October 1st and November 17th, according to the Nolan Show, 881 people had joined the scheme at a potential additional cost of £485 million over the next 20 years.

‘No evidence’

Ms Foster said she had no evidence that any DUP adviser acted in such a fashion to prolong the flawed scheme. She said this claim was a “distraction” to hide the fact that Mr Bell had failed to end the botched scheme much earlier.

The special advisers named by Mr Bell emphatically denied the claims.

Subsequently, the British treasury and Stormont officials saw that even the more restrictive scheme would prove astronomically costly and advised that it be shut down altogether.

Mr Bell said that in January this year he sought to close down the entire scheme but that Ms Foster insisted that it be held open for another two weeks.

“In the strongest terms both in volume and in force, Arlene Foster as First Minister overruled me and told me to keep the scheme open,” he said.

“She (came) walking in and shouted at me that I would keep this scheme open,” he accused.

In the end, he said, he was overruled and the scheme was kept open for an additional two weeks. He said he acted “under the orders of the First Minister” in extending the scheme for two weeks.

Ms Foster strongly disputed his account. She said that Mr Bell was aggressive during the exchange, that she felt “intimidated” and that she had a witness to verify this.

“He used his physical bulk to stand over me in quite an aggressive way,” she alleged.

“The Jonathan Bell that appears on your programme is not the Jonathan Bell that would be familiar to many of his political colleagues and many of his civil servants who worked in his department and many in the business community,” she added.

Ms Foster also disputed Mr Bell’s claim that he wanted to close the scheme in January. She acknowledged the scheme remained open for two more weeks but said Mr Bell wanted to maintain the scheme until March. “I was concerned that was too long and I believed it needed to be closed before that, as did the Deputy First Minister (Martin McGuinness),” she said.

Ms Foster also indicated, before the programme was broadcast, that Mr Bell would face party censure for breaking party ranks. “I think he has stepped outside of the party lines, he has not communicated with me in any way recently, so it’ll be a matter now for party officers as to which action they take,” she said.

‘Full statement’ on Monday

On Monday she is to make a "full statement" to the Northern Assembly which has been called back from its Christmas recess. "I am very much looking forward to the truth coming out because I have absolutely nothing to hide," Ms Foster told the Impartial Reporter.

“Unfortunately to date there has been 10 per cent fact and 90 per cent spin in relation to this story, so it’s important the facts get out there and I am looking forward to doing that on Monday,” she added.

Mr Bell was the DETI minister from May 2015 to May this year, succeeding Ms Foster who took over the finance department. Ms Foster as First Minister did not reappoint Mr Bell as a minister in the new Northern Executive formed after the Northern Assembly elections in May.

Mr Bell denied he was acting in order to try to force Ms Foster to stand down as First Minister. “Nothing, with God as my judge, could be further from the truth,” he said.

Mr Bell told last night's Nolan Show that his disclosures would cost him his political career but that nonetheless he had to tell the truth.

"My political career is finished, you are going to be ruined for telling the truth," he said. "I have had to do one of the most difficult things I have had to do in my life ... and tell the public of Northern Ireland the truth, to shine a light onto what has occurred and to deal with a major problem."

The Strangford Assembly member said that “people tell me if you step outside the box, if you put your head above the parapet, it will be shot off.”

“I believe that God doesn’t punish people who tell the truth, so let’s see how it plays out. My only aim is that the truth is told, I have now told it,” he said.