NORTHERN IRELAND:BRITISH CONSERVATIVE leader David Cameron has used an electioneering visit to warn Sinn Féin he opposes the paying of expenses to abstentionist MPs.
He also made clear that his party and the Ulster Unionists will stand against North Down MP Sylvia Hermon in her North Down constituency if she persists in her opposition to the pact between the two parties.
Speaking in Ballymena where he was accompanied by Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson, Mr Cameron warned Lady Hermon: “This pact is very much bigger than any one person. The idea is to say to people in Northern Ireland that they should have the opportunity of voting for a UK-wide party. This is about trying to get beyond the politics of division and to have a new politics which is nationwide.”
He continued: “Obviously I would like Sylvia Hermon to stand under our banner, but if she walks away that is a decision for her. Be clear there will be a Conservative and unionist candidate in every constituency at the next election.”
Lady Hermon told The Irish Timeslast night: "That does not come as any great surprise to me."
Mr Cameron made it clear he opposed the payment of Westminster allowances to five Sinn Féin MPs if they did not take their seats. “We’ve got to clean up the Westminster Parliament, we’ve also got to cut the cost of politics and a pretty good place to start is actually to say to people if you don’t come to the Westminster Parliament then you can’t claim expenses for the Westminster Parliament.”
Sinn Féin hit back, saying: “David Cameron would be better off dealing with the stinking corruption within his own party than attempting to undermine the democratic rights of people in this part of Ireland.”
In an open question and answer session, part of a series of “town hall-style” meetings he is hosting, the Conservative party leader insisted that the new political arrangements represented a settlement of the constitutional question and insisted it was imperative to look to the future rather than argue over the past.
“I am wise enough, I hope, to recognise when I see people like Martin McGuinness standing up and referring to people now involved in terrorism as ‘traitors’ that something very profound has happened in Northern Ireland and we have got to grab that and build on it, and actually make this the incredibly successful part of the United Kingdom that this can be.”
The Tory leader also said he would work to end “double-jobbing” by Assembly members who are also MPs.
Sixteen of Northern Ireland’s MPs are also members at Stormont. Mr Cameron said he hoped that this practice would end.
DUP leader Peter Robinson and SDLP leader Mark Durkan have said they are in agreement and wish to see the end to the custom.
In a speech in Bangor, Co Down, last night, Mr Robinson said he would be announcing changes to the DUP’s Executive and Assembly team before the summer recess “so that no more than one of my seven parliamentary colleagues who presently hold either a ministerial position of committee chairmanship will continue to do so”.
He added: “This move is being done with their full agreement. The new team of ministers and committee chairs will be briefed over the summer and be in place before the beginning of the autumn term.”