NI Conservatives’ spokesman, Bill Manwaring, has accused the DUP of ‘showing contempt for taxpayers’ and ‘acting to preserve unfair parliamentary constituencies’, after the party voted against plans to redraw constituency boundaries, in the House of Commons.
“The DUP’s vote is another clear indication of its contempt for the UK parliamentary system and for hard pressed tax payers, who would have been £13.5 million better off if this legislation had passed”, Bill commented. “The proposals were aimed at making the number of voters in each constituency more or less equal and ensuring that elections would have produced a fairer result. The number of MPs would have fallen from 650 to 600, making the House of Commons substantially cheaper for the general public to fund. In Northern Ireland the DUP supports cutting the number of politicians, yet it won’t take the same approach UK wide.”
“Unfortunately, for reasons of self-interest, the party joined various groups of separatists from around the United Kingdom in voting against these plans. Although the DUP describes itself as ‘unionist’, it consistently opposes measures which are in the interests of the whole UK and it shows little thought for the integrity of the Westminster system. Its MPs’ decision to vote against fairer boundaries and a cheaper House of Commons for taxpayers is disappointing, but it isn’t surprising”.