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DUP News Update - 6th September 2019
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** £400m extra for NI in Spending Review
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Party Leader Arlene Foster welcoming the £400m extra funding

Party representatives have welcomed the announcement of an additional £400million for Northern Ireland, within the Spending Review. The announcement was made by the Chancellor to Parliament this week. East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson said,

“Despite attempts by the Opposition to talk down the United Kingdom economy and the destabilising effects of the delay in leaving the European Union, I am pleased that the economy has been strong enough for the government to find the additional spending which has been announced.

In particular we welcome the additional money for Northern Ireland. In our discussions with the government we had emphasised the need for resources to recruit more police officers reduce hospital waiting lists, provide relief for school budgets, money to compensate those impacted by the contaminated blood scandal and to support the Northern Ireland Hospice.

The additional money now made available to government Departments in this year should help to partly achieve those objectives. It is now up to the Secretary of State to ensure, that in the absence of devolution the Civil Service get on with the job of making the decisions necessary to spend this money.

Over the last number of years we have used our influence at Westminster to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland. No other party has secured a single penny for our schools or hospitals. We will always use our influence at Westminster to deliver for everyone in Northern Ireland.”


** New Strangford MLA announced
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DUP Leader Arlene Foster has congratulated new Strangford MLA Harry Harvey on his appointment to the Assembly. It follows the resignation of former MLA Simon Hamilton who stepped down from politics.

Mrs Foster said, “I want to congratulate Harry and welcome him to the DUP Assembly team. Harry has served the people of the Rowallane area as a Councillor since 2014 and I know he will continue to be a dedicated representative for all of the Strangford constituency as an Assembly Member.

Harry enters the Assembly at a time when our focus is on restoring devolution and ensuring that Assembly Members can get back to doing the full job we should be doing. The public have been punished for nearly three years through Sinn Fein’s boycott of devolution and we need to see decision making returned for Northern Ireland.”

Harry Harvey said, “I am honoured to have been selected to represent Strangford as an Assembly Member. Through my time in Local Government I know the importance of constituency representation, and I will dedicate myself to continuing that role. It is very frustrating however that the Assembly and Executive are not functioning at present. I will work with colleagues to do ensure a fair and balanced agreement can be reached which can be supported by everyone.”


** Dodds calls on Irish PM to engage with unionists
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Nigel Dodds asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to encourage Leo Varadkar to engage with the representatives of unionism on the backstop.

Speaking after the Prime Minister’s statement to the House of Commons this week, DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds said,

“The backstop is key to the failure of the Withdrawal Agreement to pass the House of Commons. The anti-democratic nature of the backstop is too often ignored. It would see laws made in Brussels impacting the economy of Northern Ireland with no-one in London or Belfast able to vote on them or even ask a question about them.

The backstop is put forward as necessary for the defence of the Belfast Agreement yet stands against the principle in both that agreement and the St Andrews Agreement which require the consent of both unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland. There is no unionist party that supports the backstop.

These are points which could be made directly to Leo Varadkar if the Irish Prime Minister would drop his refusal to sit down and engage directly with unionist representatives. When we hear so much about conciliation and progress I hope that when our Prime Minister meets his Irish counterpart he might be able to encourage Mr Varadkar to engage with unionists on this vitally important issue.”


** Party consultation on future of House of Lords launched
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The Party has launched a public consultation document of reforming the House of Lords,

Commenting on it, Lord Morrow said,

“This consultation document sets out the DUP’s present thinking on the immediate and substantive reform of the House of Lords.

In the short-term, it outlines a variety of measures the DUP believes would see the House of Lords reduced in size and a fairer institution. However, we are conscious that substantive reform of the House of Lords is once again a matter of debate. We believe it is appropriate to examine how to refresh the United Kingdom’s constitution and political institutions after we leave the European Union.

In these consultative proposals the DUP outlines:

* A House of Lords smaller than the House of Commons – these proposals are based on a size of 576.
* 400 elected positions (almost 70% of total membership) with a bias to strengthening regional representation in the second chamber.
* 150 of the existing peers would serve in the reformed chamber with a number a caucus system of election for 100 of them, hereditary peers would be reduced in half to 45 and 5 direct Prime Ministerial picks. Lords Spiritual would be maintained.
* Regulatory framework aligned with the House of Commons.
* Inclusion of the Salisbury Convention in the Standing Orders of the House of Lords.
* Possible and limited increase in powers and reforms to its operation.

In any constitutional reform it is important to balance necessary adaption while retaining the positives of the existing system and that is why we believe public engagement on these matters are important."

The party is encouragaing everyone to participate in the consultation.
Download the consultation document here ([link removed])


** All sections of community must have confidence in PSNI
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Joanne Bunting speaking at the Policing Board meeting

DUP Policing Board member Joanne Bunting has called on the Chief Constable to ensure that all sections of the community can have confidence in the PSNI and that perceptions of two-tier policing are tackled.

Speaking after raising the issue at the Policing Board the East Belfast MLA said,

“The Chief Constable has recently acknowledged that confidence within the wider unionist community is not where it should be or where everyone would like it to be. Back in June I raised questions about the police response to republican paramilitary displays yet further such incidents have occurred recently, including where children were present and the fear of apprehension was so low some did not even bother to wear masks.

Following these incidents there are those in my community who have expressed the view that it is not even worth reporting such incidents to the police because nothing will be done. That people would take this attitude is an outworking of a very real feeling of two-tier policing. Indeed, many people perceive that you are more likely to be arrested or face police action for wearing the insignia of Her Majesty's Armed Forces than you are for firing weapons on our streets and glorifying terrorism.

The Chief Constable may well stress that two-tier policing does not exist, but he cannot ignore the fact that many people strongly believe that it does. It is incumbent upon him therefore to demonstrate clearly that policing operations are even-handed, irrespective of the location or of those who are the subject of police action.”
Diary Page

Dates for your Diary


* Annual Party Conference - 25th & 26th October - Crowne Plaza Hotel, Shaws Bridge Belfast.

For more information or to express interest in events where not otherwise indicated, please email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Diary%20Dates%20-%20DUP%20Newsletter)

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