Clause 15
Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill
12:15 pm
Sammy Wilson (East Antrim, DUP)
The remarks of the hon. Member for Belfast, South are perhaps the most revealing made in the debate so far. He said that the removal of the clause would affect the survival of the SDLP. He is known for over-egging the pudding sometimes, but even if we take his remark with a pinch of salt it confirms the point that I made in an intervention on the Minister that this part of the Bill is discriminatory and is aimed at one section of the Northern Ireland community and one part of the body politic.
I do not think that any Unionist party could make the same comment and claim that without clause 15 its very survival—or any part of its financial arrangements—would be adversely affected. The provisions are particularly directed at the SDLP and will benefit Sinn Fein even more. Therefore, they do not pass one of the essential tests that Northern Ireland legislation is supposed to pass—namely, that it should undergo an equality impact assessment and should not go ahead without good reason, and indeed, usually mitigation as well.
I would be interested to hear from the Minister, now that we have heard from the hon. Member for Belfast, South, what he believes the import of the provision to be and how it got through an equality impact assessment. Anyone in Northern Ireland would find it difficult to accept the Minister’s assurance that the clause would have no adverse impact on any section of the community.
The hon. Member for Belfast, South has made much of the need for the clause to be passed, to reflect his Irishness. As a Unionist, I respect the fact that he looks more towards the Irish Republic than towards the rest of the United Kingdom. However, that does not by any stretch of the imagination justify determining the rules for fundraising and political donations in Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom, by means of laws established in another country—albeit one with which some people in Northern Ireland might have an affinity—over which neither the hon. Gentleman nor I, nor any Member of the House, has any control.
That is not acceptable—especially in the light of the record of some parties in the Republic, the laxity of the rules that apply to political donations there and the way parties are allowed to raise money. Some of the stories of sleaze emanating from the Irish Republic would make the honours-for-loans affair here look quite acceptable or even honourable.