No-show Sinn Fein MPs still trouser £1.1m

The £1 billion deal ensuring the DUP props up Theresa May’s Government after the botched election brought predictable criticism from Sinn Fein MPs.

They accused May of buying support to cling to power.

Yet Sinn Fein know all about spending taxpayers’ money, even though they have a longstanding policy of declining to participate in the Westminster Parliament.

The party’s MPs refuse to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen, and believe Parliament has no legitimate right to control the six counties of Northern Ireland.

Before November 2005, Sinn Fein had no access to public funds because of the oath, but the then Labour government changed the rules to enable them to cash in.

They spend the money on publicity and staff costs.

A littlenoticed answer in the last week of Parliament revealed that between 2006 and 2016, the five Sinn Fein MPs elected in 2005 — including Gerry Adams and the late Martin McGuinness — and those who held the same five seats after 2010 trousered £1.1 million in allowances.

In one year McGuinness, a former IRA chief, claimed £97,000.

In contrast, the most frugal MP in the house, Philip hollobone, who represents Kettering, claimed just £4,852 in 2015.

The money is from the Short Fund for Opposition MPs to carry out their parliamentary work.

Lady hermon, an Independent Unionist MP, is incensed. She says: ‘Is this Government prepared to take a hardline approach, a hardheaded approach and a proper approach towards Sinn Fein, who do not take their seats, but are still able to take advantage of a huge amount of public funding from this house for administrative and secretarial assistance? Isn’t it time to bring the wasteful farce to an end?’

Don’t hold your breath! And don’t expect the IRAsympathising Labour leader Comrade Corbyn to raise any objections.