Recall petition fails to unseat Ian Paisley

Posted by Jim on September 20, 2018

At the end of six weeks of campaigning, an official petition of recall
to remove North Antrim MP Ian Paisley over corruption allegations has
fallen just short of the number required.

Just before 2am on Thursday morning, it was announced 7,099 people had
signed the petition, 444 signatures short of the required number of
7,543, or 10% of the electorate in the constituency.

Under 2015 legislation, the Westminster parliament automatically set in
motion the petition of recall process after Mr Paisley was given a
30-sitting day ban from the Commons, the longest on record for any MP.

The ban was imposed after it was uncovered that Paisley had received
luxury holidays in return for lobbying then British Prime Minister David
Cameron not to support a UN probe into human rights abuses by the Sri
Lanka government.

As well as not declaring the holidays, the MP was found to have broken
Commons lobbying rules. The disgraced MP is the first in Westminster
history to face the recall process.

The petition took place under stringent “secrecy rules” which limited
public reporting on the six-week campaign.

There had also been strong criticism of the Electoral Office in the
North after just three centres for signing the petition were opened. The
public locations in unionist town centres made it difficult, and
potentially dangerous, for those signing the petition.

Responding to this morning’s announcement, Sinn Fein representative
Philip McGuigan said it was a “disappointing result” but “no endorsement
of Ian Paisley’s actions”.

He strengthened his criticism of the recall process after receiving a
bizarre warning from the PSNI over a social media statement that
referred to the potential “knife-edge” result. It was claimed by the
Electoral Office to be a violation of the secrecy rules.

“It’s regretful that the Electoral Office did not pay as much attention
to ensuring the people of North Antrim were afforded their democratic
rights because they clearly did not do enough to facilitate people who
wished to sign the petition,” he said.

“They had the option of opening as many as ten locations where people
could sign the petition, yet they inexplicably opted to go for just
three.

“The lack of an effective public awareness campaign and the restrictive
opening hours of the signing centres were also major problems.

“Nevertheless, the issues raised by this scandal are not going away and
neither are the questions for the DUP leadership.”

Mr Paisley’s family has held the North Antrim seat, a DUP stronghold,
for nearly 50 years. Despite rising opposition to Brexit and anger at
the DUP over unrelated corruption allegations relating to a cash-for-ash
green energy scheme, he was odds-on to win a by-election. However, the
failure of the recall petition has averted what would have been a bitter
and deeply embarrassing political contest.

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Robin Swann, who supported the recall, said
public confidence in politics had collapsed.

“I would caution Ian Paisley not to see this as some sort of victory or
endorsement of his actions in acting as a paid advocate for a foreign
government and bringing North Antrim and the House of Commons into
disrepute.

“Rather I would urge him to use the time that he has been suspended from
Parliament and the DUP, to reflect on the severity of what he has done
and the embarrassment he has brought on Northern Ireland.

“He should demonstrate some humility.”