Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Probe DUP link to data firm
MP’S call for widening of powers over social media
TRANSPARENCY laws should be widened to allow examination of the DUP’S alleged links to data firm Cambridge Analytica, ministers have been told.
The call came after Sinn Fein wrote to the Information Commissioner’s Office over the party’s alleged links with the company at the centre of a scandal over the harvesting and storing of social media users’ data.
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, speaking in the Commons, told ministers that transparency rules needed to be widened for “full disclosure”. The Government announced last year that it would bring into force new transparency rules for Northern Ireland’s political parties to allow the Electoral Commission to publish details of donations over £7,500.
However, rules would only apply to donations from July 1, 2017 – not 2014, as in the rest of the UK.
Ms Moran said: “It’s been recently revealed that a portion of the largest ever political donation given to a party in Northern Ireland was spent on services linked to Cambridge Analytica. In light of this, shouldn’t the Secretary of State backdate transparency regulations to 2014 so we can finally get full disclosure about where that cash came from?”
Independent North Down MP Lady Hermon said: “I’m really very interested to hear the explanation from the Secretary of State why the Northern Ireland office deliberately, wilfully, ignored the advice and recommendations of the Electoral Commission the publication of donations to political parties in Northern Ireland should be backdated to 2014, not 2017.” Karen Bradley responded: “There was no wilful ignoring or anything else – my predecessor consulted with all the parties in Northern Ireland and there was broad support for 2017.”
The Commons exchange came after Sinn Fein MP Francie Molloy called for more clarity on DUP money paid to Aggregateiq, a firm linked with Cambridge Analytica, during the Brexit referendum. It led to a spat as the DUP responded with questions over “foreign donations” to Sinn Fein, claiming the party received nearly $20,000 from the US for its 2017 campaign.