Brown's £50bn a good deal: Hain

The British government will not get drawn into a Dutch auction on the multibillion-pound package offered to a future devolved government in the North, Peter Hain warned today.

The Northern Ireland Secretary insisted Chancellor Gordon Brown’s offer of £50bn (€75bn) over 10 years to a new Stormont Executive represented a good deal for the North’s politicians if they were prepared to revive power sharing.