Hermon Anger at Sinn Fein Allowances
Ulster Unionist MP Lady Hermon has expressed her anger with the Government for bringing forward a motion in Parliament to restore and extend Sinn Fein’s allowances. Speaking from Westminster before the debate, she said:
“There is so much wrong with the Government’s proposals on Sinn Fein’s allowances, it’s difficult to know where to start. Not only is the Government proposing to re-instate and backdate allowances, but it’s also seeking to extend them so that Sinn Fein receives thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money without doing a single hour’s work at Westminster.”
“In my view, so long as there isn’t a clean bill of health from the Independent Monitoring Commission, Sinn Fein allowances certainly shouldn’t be restored. Ignoring the IMC by backdating payments is wholly inconsistent with the notion of punishment for wrongdoing. No allowances should be backdated. As for the extension and increase of allowances –it is just utterly ridiculous.
“So I oppose the Government motion with a straightforward message –don’t re-instate, don’t backdate and don’t extend.”