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Tag: Sammy Wilson
First details emerge of system for checks on goods crossing Irish Sea | Northern Ireland | The Guardian
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Brexit: DUP ‘will oppose PM’s deal 1,000 times’
A Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP has said the party will not vote for Theresa May’s Brexit deal even if she presents it to the House of Commons “a thousand times”.
The party’s Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said its position was fixed.
He accused former prime minister Sir John Major and Justice Secretary David Gauke of “scare tactics”.
They said on Sunday that a no-deal Brexit could jeopardise Northern Ireland’s place in the UK.
“That is too high a price and I think that is something Parliament has to bear in mind.”
Mr Gauke said the prime minister’s deal was the “best outcome”, adding: “Sometimes you do have to accept your second or third choice to avoid an outcome you consider to be even worse.”
‘Laugh in the face of threats’
In his East Antrim constituency on Sunday night, Mr Wilson told BBC News NI: “Should [the prime minister] bring it back a thousand times we will vote against it because the implications for Northern Ireland are far, far too serious.
“We have been resolute.
“And that’s why we laugh in the face of these kind of threats that we get from John Major and David Gauke today.”
He said Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement, if passed, could build a trade barrier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain and “could destroy the union”.
“Our message to the prime minister is: do what you should have done at the very start and what you promised you would do.
“That is only sign an agreement, which treats Northern Ireland the same as the rest of the United Kingdom.”
On Friday, the DUP’s deputy leader Nigel Dodds said he would “rather stay in the EU and remain rather than risk Northern Ireland’s position” in the union.
On Monday, Parliament will hold an indicative vote on Brexit alternatives.
A customs union with the EU is thought to be the most likely preference.
With many thanks to the: BBC News for the original story
Sammy (THE RACIST) Wilson claims the Civil service no-deal warning are ‘scare tactics’
A letter from the head of NI’s civil service warning about the impact of a no-deal Brexit has been dismissed by a DUP MP as “scare tactics”.
Sammy Wilson was giving evidence to Westminster’s NI Affairs committee.
On Tuesday, a letter from David Sterling to NI’s political parties warning about “grave” consequences was published.
Mr Wilson said he did not care if Mr Sterling “was head of the civil service or Santa Claus”, that he was wrong.
No-deal Brexit ‘grave outcome for NI’
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The UK is due to leave the EU on March 29.
But the House of Commons rejected the government’s first Brexit deal over the Irish border backstop, and talks are continuing in Brussels between the UK and EU in a bid to negotiate changes to the withdrawal agreement.
The DUP has said it will not support the deal unless there are “legally binding” changes to it.
United Ireland
Mr Wilson was asked by DUP colleague Ian Paisley about his views on those who said a no-deal Brexit would lead to a united Ireland.
Mr Wilson dismissed that as “scare tactics”, and said another example of that was the letter from Mr Sterling.
Image copyrightPA
Image caption
David Sterling said cross-border trade could be a “serious dilemma” in the event of a no-deal Brexit
“The fact of the matter is he has got it wrong,” Mr Wilson told MPs.
‘Civil disobedience’
The NI Affairs committee is also hearing evidence from Green Party leader Clare Bailey, Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister and People Before Profit (PBP) MLA Gerry Carroll.
They are being asked about the Brexit deal, the Irish border backstop and how Northern Ireland should be represented in future UK-EU negotiations.
People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll said “civil disobedience on the streets” could be the result of a no-deal Brexit.
The MLA said his party would call on people to protest against “any resurrection of a hard border”.
He cited evidence from the PSNI chief constable that any future checkpoints could be a target for dissident violence.
“It is very dangerous, it’s tantamount to playing with fire if people think they can erect more checkpoints or security on the border,” he said.
Mr Carroll said he believed there would be protests across the island, not just at border areas, if a no-deal Brexit led to any hardening of the Irish border.
With many thanks to: BBCNI for the original story
DUP’s Sammy Wilson insults Ireland and the Irish people with his comments of ‘go to the chippy’ in event of Brexit food shortages has he never heard of the Irish Famine
The DUP has been accused of telling people to “go to the chippy instead” if there were food shortages caused by a no-deal Brexit.
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The comment appeared to come from the DUP’s East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson.
Darran Marshall@DarranMarshall“Go to the chippy” shouts @DUPonline MP Sammy Wilson as @theSNP @IanBlackfordMP mentions potential food shortages in the event of a no=-deal #brexit
You can hear him at the end of this clip:
Mrs Lucas intervened during a speech by the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford to say: “I’m grateful for him giving way and he’s making a very powerful case for what no deal will look like, and amongst that he said that there could be food shortages, and crucially that food prices could go up.
“Does he share my anger with the voices behind me that he perhaps didn’t hear, but when he was talking about food prices going up and the fact there could be food shortages, the people behind me were saying ‘well let them go to the chippy instead?’
“Does he share my anger about the way our constituents would be affected by a no deal?”
Mr Blackford (Ross Skye and Lochaber) replied: “I’m sorry to hear that that was a remark that was made.
“You know this is a really important debate and I think there is a responsibility that we take these matters seriously, each and every one of us.”
With many thanks to the: Belfast Telegraph for the original story
Follow this link to learn more of the Irish Great Hunger:
WHY ARE THE NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE (NIO), AND BRITISH PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY KEEPING THE DUP’s DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS ? ‘HIDEN’???
The government wants all donations made public from July of this year
Labour and the SNP have failed to change government plans over the way political donations in North of Ireland are published.
The government wants all donations made public from July of this year.
However, Labour and the SNP have said donations should be backdated to January 2014.
Northern Ireland Office Minister Chloe Smith laid plans before parliament to allow the publication of donations and loans received after 1 July this year.
The order will now go before the House of Lords next month.
Assuming it is passed there, the first donations to Northern Ireland parties should be made public about the end of January or start of February.
The threshold for publishing donations is £7,500 for a central party or £1,500 for an individual politician or what’s known as an accounting unit such as a constituency branch.
Aid transparency
During a debate on Tuesday, Ms Smith said she found it “frankly quite amazing,” that Labour was “opposing transparency”.
She said the move would aid transparency.
Labour’s Ben Bradshaw said the government’s move did not go far enough and described the plans as “shabby”.
The Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Owen Smith, said the law should be retrospective and the government’s plans were “deeply disappointing”.
‘Affair stinks’
He raised the issue of a £435,000 donation from the Constitutional Research Council during the EU referendum campaign and said this legislation would not include details of that donation.
He told MPs “unfortunately this affair stinks” and described the donation as the largest in the history of Northern Ireland politics.
The DUP MP, Sammy Wilson, said he was surprised by the position of the Labour Party.
He said in relation to the Constitutional Research Council “all obligations had been met”.
Mr Wilson said in broad terms the last Labour government accepted there were “good reasons ” why donations were not made public
DUP MP Sammy Wilson said he was surprised by the position of the Labour Party
He said some of the opposition from the Labour Party was all about the result of the referendum campaign.
He said the Labour Party had “taken umbrage ” with those parties who had campaigned to leave the EU.
Other MPs criticised the Labour Party including the Conservative MP, Simon Clarke, who said Labour was guilty of “flip flopping”.
The government’s plans were opposed by the SNP MP, Deidre Brock, who argued that the publication of donors should be backdated to 2014.
Follow these links to find out more: https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexitinc/adam-ramsay-mary-fitzgerald/why-is-northern-ireland-office-protecting-dups-dirty-little
With many thanks to: BBC England for the origional story
CUTS ROW BECOMING A FIASCO FOR VILLIERS
Cuts row becoming a fiasco for Villiers.
ON MONDAY the Department for Social Development publushed a report on the reasons people use food banks.
They concluded low income was the main reason. Astonishing. Who’da thought? There’s you thinking people toddled round to a food bank because they couldn’t get a bus to Tesco. You wonder how much that report cost. The banality of the report’s conclusion was matched perfectly by the response of the DSD minister. Go on, try to think of his name. Draw a blank? How appropriate. Here’s what he said almost in English. “Society – not just government – but collectively we need to take a strong look at why this is happening in the North of Ireland.” Surely his report had just told him? People aren’t paid enough. Another reason given was that people had to wait too long for benifit payment’s to kick in after losing their job or becoming to ill to work. Third, but not mentioned are benefit sanctions when people are refused cash because, for example, it’s deemed they aren’t trying to find a job. The minister was asking the wrong question. It’s not a matter of finding reasons for using food banks. It’s why has the number of food banks in the north increased from two, when our proconsul’s nasty government took over in 2010, to more than a dozen now? The reason is obvious. She’s a member of an increasingly unfair, unjust and inequitable government which on her occasional visits to the north she attempts to justify by mouthing irrelevancies designed for her own voters in one of the wealther, healthier parts of London. To give you an idea how much in common she has with people here you might like to know the average gross weekly earnings in her constituency are £675 compared to £518 for the UK as a whole and about £460 here. The average property price in Chipping Barnet is £370,000. Here it’s £120,000. In her constituency two per cent are on Job Seekers Allowance (JSA). The north has the highest claim count of the twelve UK regions. Oh, and there’s one food bank in Barnet.
On the basis of her (Villiers) obvious deep experience of poverty in her constituency our proconsul regularly repeats her demand that the parties here sign up to the welfare cuts she wants to impose and pushed through in the Stormont House agreement as the single most important priority. Let’s repeat here again that the financial annexe in the Stormont House agreement is a bye-ball. The Stormont House agreement dealt with the cuts announced in 2012-13, not 2015. The deal embodied in the agreement won’t approach the cuts announced in July never mind the coming autumn statement and the comprehensive spending review. To give them their due, last December only Sinn Féin (Shame Fein) was talking about arrangements to mitigate the impact of cuts for the next five years. Now there’s a glimmer of hope. Sinn Féin (Shame Fein) and the DUP have been edging closer in meetings over the summer towards the point where senior Sinn Féin people think there’s a chance the DUP might come on board to ask the British for an upgraded package to take account of the draconian proposals our proconsul plans to impose next year. The DUP response to George Osborne’s July cuts showed the first sign of alarm. Sammy Wilson, now happily no longer spouting contempt in the assembly, reacted by worrying that the different benefit caps for London and elsewhere were the first indication of regional variations in benefit. Some DUP people fear that presages regional variations in public sector pay which would hit the party’s middle-class voters. Furthermore Sinn Féin (Shame Fein) hope the DUP’s antennae have twitched at the prospect that our proconsul’s instructions from Whitehall will hit the working poor and not just people on benefit stupidly disdained by the DUP as free loaders. Besides, no secretary of state would want to preside over the collapse of the assembly. It wouldn’t look well on her CV after the fiasco of the West Coast franchise which she awarded in 2012 before being reshuffled. While the report on that flawed, erroneous bidding process cleared our proconsul, her Labour shadow minister said, ‘ministers failed completely in their responsibilities’. A second fiasco would look careless.
With many thanks to: Brian Feeney, The Irish news, for the origionial story.
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MORE THAN HALF OF DUP MLAs EMPLOY RELATIVES
Public fund Stormont office jobs
MORE than half the DUP‘s Storming team use taxpayers’ money to employ family members in their offices. According to the assembly’s register of interests 22 of the party’s 38 MLA‘s have relatives working for them.
The figure is twice as many as all other parties combined. The total wage bill for MLAs‘ relatives working at Storming has been estimated at £500,000. In the wake of the expended scandal at West minister rules were introduced allowing MPs to employ one family member. No such rules exist at Storming. DUP finance minister Sammy Wilson, who has never employed a family member, defended the practice. “Provided people can do the job then there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be employed,” he said last night.”It happens in every walk of life and it’s not regarded as nepotism there so why should it be regarded any different in political life?” However, N121 assembly member John McCallister said the high number of relatives working for MLAs could give the public the wrong impression. “I’m sure many of these family members who work for MLAs do a very good job but unfortunately it does little to enhance the image of us politicians,” he said. “The perception that nepotism is rife can only further damage politicians in the ppublic’s minds.”
The register shows four Ulster Unionists, three SDLP, two Alliance and one Sinn Fein member have given jobs to their family members or relatives of other MLAs, while TUV leader Jim Allister employs his daughter as a part-time secretary and researcher. Among those employed at Stormont or working on behalf of MLAs include DUP leader Peter Robinson’s daughter and daughter in-law, foformer UUP MLA Billy Armstrong is employed by his daughter Sandra Overend, while employment and learning minister Stephen Carry employs his wife. The recruitment process for party workers is not governed by Fair Employment law, so in effect assembly members can employ anybody they wish. Mr McCallister said he was glad rules had been introduced at Stormont which forced MLAs to reveal which members of their family they were employing. “It’s difficult area to regulate but it’s much better now that assembly members must declare where they are employing family members or relatives of other party representives,” he said.
With many thanks to : John Manley, Political Reporter, The Irish News.
Email: J.manley@iiris news.com
Whose wages do taxpayers pay?
DUP
- Jonathan Bell employs his wife as a part-time secretary and researcher; employs Peter Robinson’s son as constituency manger and the DUP leader’s daughter-in-law as a part-time secretary.
- Paula Bradley employs her cousin as part-time office support.
- Gregory Campbell – jointly employs fellow MLA George Robinson’s son as a researcher.
- Trevor Clarke employs his wife as a part-time clerical assistant.
- Jonathan Craig paid his brother-in-law consultancy fees for design, update and maintenance of website.
- Sammy Douglas employs his son as a researcher.
- Gordon Dune employs his son as a researcher.
- Alex Easton employs his wife as a part-time clerical officer with typing duties.
- Paul Frew employs his wife as a full-time personal assistant and researcher.
- Paul Girvan employs his son as a part-time researcher.
- Brenda Hale employed her brother-in-law to refurbish her constituency office.
- William Hay employs his brother-in-law as an office manager in his Derry constituency office.
- William Irwin employs his daughter as a full-time office assistant.
- Nelson McCausland employs his nephew as a constituency worker.
- Ian McCrea employs his wife as a secretary and his brother-in-law as a researcher and personal assistant.
- David McIlveen employs employs his father as a part-tme researcher.
- Michelle Mcllveen employs her brother as a researcher and office manager.
- Adrian McQuillan employs sister-in-law as a full-time researcher, aunt as a part-time assistant secretary and jointly with two other members, employs a nephew of George Robonson as a researcher.
- Robin Newton employs his son as a resarcher/constituency worker and wife as a secretary/office manager.
- George Robinson employs his son as an office manger and personal assistant and jointly with two other members, employs a nephew as a researcher.
- Peter Robinson employs his daughter as office manager.
- Alastair Ross employs his sister-in-law as a constituency case worker.
- Jimmy Spratt employs his wife as a part-time manager.
SDLP
- Alex Attwood employs his brother as a constituency assistant
- John Dallat employs his wife as an office administrater
- Pat Ramsey employs his wife as a driver and his wife’s nephew as a parliamentary assistant.
UUP
- Roy Beggs employs his wife as a part-time secretary.
- Leslie Cree employs his wife as a part-time researcher.
- Joanna Dobson employs her sister one day per week as a clerical officer
- Sandra Overend employs her father Billy Armstrong, a former MLA, on an ad-hoc basis to undertake advisory and constituency work.
Alliance
- Stephen FCarry employs his wife as a senior researcher.
- Korean McCarthy employs his son on a part time basis for general office duties.
Sinn Fein
- Fra McCann employs a nice of Paul and Alex Maskey as a personal assistant.
TUV
- Jim Allister employs his daughter part-time as a secretary and office manager.
THE IRISH NEWS
Pro Fide Patria
Time to end jobs for boys culture
AT A time when the ccredibility of our devolved structures has been increasingly called into qquestion, it may not come as a complete surprise to find that so many DUP MLAs insist on using public funds to employ family members in their offices.
Our investigation today has established that more than half of the members of the DUP’s assembly group have given posts to relatives of eleceted representives, with the total figure twice that of all other parties combined. Although no-one is suggesting that any rules have been broken, the thinking which leads to the selection of partners, children, ccousins and even in one case a parent is still striking. Jobs of all kinds are very hard to come by these days and ordinary voters may well think that attractive opportunities in the managerial, secretarial and research sectors both at Storming and constituency level should go to the best available candidate. Indeed, progress over fair employment has taken decades to achieve and it is reasonable to expect that MLAs should set a positive example to the wider community in this respect. However, cynics will have noted how clear it is that sharing a name or a blood line with a DUP politician provides a huge advantage when it comes to filling in an application form. After all the uproar over the special advisers, when it emerged that some parties could be handing out key portions offering enormous salaries provided by the tax payer in almost complete secrecy, this is another damaging episode. The main problem with appointing special advisers and other party posts is the almost total lack of transparency and accountability which surrounds the entire process. If journalists from The Irish News and other outlets did not persistently ask questions of the authorities and frequently receive hostile treatment as a result, important information would never enter the public domain. Politicians who are operating in previliged circumstances should remember at all times that they are spending our money and the least we can exexpect is that they should tell us exactly what they are doing with it.
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ACRIMONY AS ALLISTER AND FORMER COLLEAGUES LOCK HORNS
DUP AND RED SKY !
‘If the first minister has something to put to me, bring it on – Jim Allister.
THE assembly heard dramatic claims of further links between the DUP and contractor Red Sky from the party’s former MEP Jim Allister. Social devolopment minister Nelson McCausland has faced questions over a meeting he and DUP leader Peter Robinson had with Red Sky management after the company had been placed in administration.
The party has strongly denied any involvement in the awarding of Housing Executive contracts. During yesterday’s debate there was clear evidence of acrimony between TUV leader Jim Allister and his former party colleagues. Mr Allister made a series of claims after DUP MLA Robin Newton produced a photograph in the chamber which he said showed former social development minister Alex Attwood with another Housing Executive contractor, PK Murphy. Co Tyrone-based PK Murphy was one of four firms named by Mr McCausland last month in connection with estimated £18 million in overpayments by the executive. All four firms have vowed to challenge the minister’s allegations. Mr Allister said Mr Newton “thinks that there is some great importance in photographes”. “Well he did not quite produce the DUP family album but I wonder whether there would be any photographes of dinner parties in the home of [Red Sky managing director] Mr Norman Hayes?” he said.
“I wonder whether there would be any photographes of work done at the homes of members of the DUP. “I wonder whether there would be any photographes of the alleged £27,000-worth of work to partition a [DUP] office at 141 Holywood Road, which Red Sky charged to the assembly. Are there any photographs of that?” Mr Allister accused the DUP of attempting “to cover its tracks in relation to its unhealthy arrangements with commercial interests”. Earlier DUP leader Peter Robinson had challenged the TUV leader over his own ties with any companies mentioned in last week’s Spolight programme. “I have no such interest to declare except when I was a practising barrister I gave advices to Mr Turkington in respect of matters,” Mr Allister said. “Those were absolutely nothing to do with this case or anything else. “However, I thought that when the first minister rose to his feet to talk about transparency he might have been going to tell us about the details of his relationship with Mr Norman Hayes and Mr Turning ton.” The first minister told his former party colleague “to think again about whether he has any further interests to declare”. “If tthe first minister has something to put to me, bring it on,” the TUV leader said. Finance minister Sammy Wilson also told the TUV leader to be “very careful” about withholding interests. “I think an Exocet has been launched today that will eventually find its target,” Mr Wilson said. “The cant, hypocrisy and pseudo outrage that he is so good at will be blown away once that Exocet reaches its target.”
With many thanks to : John Manley (Political Reporter), The Irish News.
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WILSON CONSISTENTLY ‘UNAVAILABLE’ TO FACE LINE OF QUESTIONING – WHERE IS THE SO-CALLED SHARED FURTURE OUR SO-CALLED POLITATIONS KEEP ON ABOUT ???
MINISTER UNDER PRESSURE
SAMMY Wilson has consistently refused to be interviewed about the Narrow Water Bridge project. Several attempts have been made by The Irish News to speak with the DUP finance minister regarding the cross-border scheme.
But time and time again officials for Mr Wilson, pictured,(nice bum shame about the face ) return the same line – “the minister is not available for interview”. In a statement about the project, the fiance department spokesman would only say : “As prviously advised the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) officials are undertaking a critical reveiew of the project and this process remains ongoing. “No final recommendation has been reached. Officials understand the time-scales involved for the potential delivery of the project and are endeavouring to provide a decision.”
In a further attempt to glean some information on what Mr Wilson’s opinions on the project are, The Irish News submitted a number of questions to the minister. But once again, our request was turned down. These are the questions the minister has refused to answer.
- Do you accept the economic principle of the construction multiplier that every £1 spent on this project means £3 being put back into the economy?
- Would it not be foolish to turn down the offer of around £20 million from the EU and Irish government for a NI Investment of just £2.8m?
- Why have you taken so long to make your decision on the Narrow Water Bridge project funding?
- How do you answer the accusations that you have difficulties with this project because it is being seen as being nationalist driven?
- Can you agree that the initative will have hugely beneficial long-term effect on the tourist industry in south down and beyond?
In response to the questions a DFP spokeswoman said : “The minister has advised that we have nothing further to add than the response provided earlier this week.”
When asked to explain why Mr Wilson would not respond to questions, she added : “The minister has nothing further to add until a final decision has been made.”
With many thanks to : Suzanne McGonagle, Irish News.
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