£400m extra for NI in Spending Review

New Strangford MLA announced

Dodds calls on Irish PM to engage with unionists

Party consultation on future of House of Lords launched

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.

All sections of community must have confidence in PSNI

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.”