evidence: Northern Ireland overspent its budget by £300m last year and is on course for a bigger overspend this year. [...] In the recent past, funding per head in Northern Ireland has been much higher than this, largely as a result of one-off spending packages related to political deals. [...] As Northern Ireland is a low-income part of the UK, its taxable capacity is relatively low so that adjustment would increase the needs-based spending to £127 per head, relative to England.