One of Benn’s final acts as secretary of state was appearing before Westminster’s Northern Ireland Affairs Committee to discuss the budget standoff. The MPs were amused by testimony from Sir Robert Chote, head of the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council, which advises Stormont on its finances. She is pressing ahead against the advice of the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator, which says the money would be better spent making the grid more resilient. While this may be an effective call for teasing Sinn Féin, it is not a plausible scenario. In that unlikely scenario, bringing Sinn Féin into the mix would only add more chaos, and possibly more agents.