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The Sinn Fein Votes

There were two votes yesterday on a Free Vote. As they were on a Free Vote I feel I should explain my logic for voting as I did.

A report from the Independent Monitoring Commission initially called for a suspension of the members allowances for the MPs that don't take their seats in the house of commons. (Sinn Fein). This same group concluded recently that matters had changed and hence the allowances should be restored. These allowances are mainly used to support constituents.

Additionally the government proposed that SF be given a sum of money equivalent to the "Short Money" that is used to fund parties' research into policy matters on legislation. Given that SF do not attend the House they do not get involved in these matters in the same way. Hence this equates moreso to a bung than a source of finance to support their work on legislation.

Motion 3 was to provide the Short Money equivalent - I voted against.
Motion 4 was to reinstate the constituency allowance - I vote for.

Both motions were passed with Tony Blair voting for both motions.

Comments

Bob Piper said…
Good for TB. Just because Sinn Fein do not attend the House of Commons it does not mean that their elected representatives do not have to be aware of the consequences of legislation on their constituents. Let's face it john, you will never in a blue moon have the opportunity to introduce legislation in any meaningful sense, the same as all of the other backbenchers in the House. That doesn't mean your Party will not want to research and investigate Government legislation to know what impact it will have on constituents. I'm more concerned about the public money you are wasting asking bloody fool questions for self publicity purposes.
10:42 am
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