The level of subvention Northern Ireland receives from the UK exchequer has become, like so many things in the North, politicised. Itâs regularly â and spuriously â conflated with the economic cost of a united Ireland, which is an entirely different concept. In reality, the transfers that go from London to Belfast each year â they amounted to £9.4 billion (â¬10.8 billion) in 2019 â merely reflect the Northâs annual budget deficit, the difference between what it raises in taxes and what it spends. According to the UKâs Office for National Statistics (ONS), Northern Ireland was one of nine UK regions to have a fiscal deficit in 2019.