DUP's Sammy Wilson responds
Today the DUP MP Sammy Wilson issued the following response to my blog on Monday:
"The ongoing payment of allowances to a party that refuses to turn up to Westminster and represent their constituents is nothing short of a national scandal. In opposition, the Tories made all sorts of promises on this front. Now they are in government they need to take decisive action. There can be no half-measures. Sinn Fein should not be in receipt of one penny piece of allowances related to Westminster unless and until they take their seats in the House of Commons and actually start representing their constituents.
"The comments from Michael Crick today seem to indicate that the Tories plan to remove Sinn Fein's equivalent of Short Money. That does not go far enough. There are other issues such as office accommodation in the Palace of Westminster that will need to be looked at.
"Sinn Fein should never have been granted office facilities or any allowances in the first place. Any attempt to continue any sorts of payments whilst Sinn Fein refuse to meet their obligations will be opposed by the DUP," Wilson said.
I'm Michael Crick, and I'm Newsnight's political editor. My guiding rule is that in any story there's usually something the politicians would prefer the world not to know. My job is to find that out. Follow me on
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