I would not on principle, however, be voting for Lord Empey.
Here's what he said not that long ago:
Double-jobbing and kick-backs are not what this Party is about.I don't know how many Tescos' vouchers the Lords are able to claim but I do know that it meets for 140 days every year. Which means if Lord Empey does retain his Assembly seat, then he will be trying to be in two places at once if he hopes to do the two jobs he has been elected and selected for. Or is there another interpretation that I'm missing out on here?
We are about public service - putting the people of Northern Ireland first.
During 2009 the Ulster Unionist Party fought and won the battle over double jobbing.
We set the pace, exposed the unjustifiable behaviour of those trying to be in two or three places at once, munching their way through £400 of food every month.
6 comments:
The Lords is not elected, and not salaried. It is not compariable to an elected office. The UUP has been consistant in that through the double jobbing debates.
The Lords is what you make of it. Then again that applies to the Commons. Only if you are a solo peer or MP like Naomi Long are you outside the constant daily party activity.
If Reg takes the Conservative whip he is essentially a full timer. If not, he could become like Lord Laird a thorn in the side of every government department through his probing questions. Laird could be credited with a deal of the success over the bill of rights abandonment by never letting the NI Human Rights Commission rest.
See http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/ldallfiles/peers/lord_hansard_1388_wad.html
I fear Reg Empey’s Assembly candidature is like the disastrous tactics and choices employed in the Westminster election. He was of course chosen before the peerage announcement and this may change things.
"The Lords is not elected, and not salaried. It is not compariable to an elected office."
Michael,
It is in as far as it is a part of our parliamentary system and he has been selected to sit there. If he had felt the Assembly (which theoretically is supposed to be a full-time job) was more important then he should have diplomatically let it be known that he didn't want the knighthood at this juncture.
'Laird could be credited with a deal of the success over the bill of rights abandonment'
What a load of rubbish. The Bill of Rights was abandoned becuase after discussion between NI Tories and Owen Paterson (and Dominic Grieve) Owen agreed it was nonsense, the Conservatives won the election and the rest is history.
Lord Mad costs alot of money with his questions but rarely achieves anything
Like the UUP in general really not influential any more
"The Bill of Rights was abandoned becuase after discussion between NI Tories and Owen Paterson (and Dominic Grieve) Owen agreed it was nonsense, the Conservatives won the election and the rest is history."
IMO the fact that Woodward and in effect the Labour government as a whole gave it, to all intents and purposes, the boot was more significant- from that point, it was doomed. But in all honesty the Bill's stupidity spoke for itself.
So we should have done nothing by way of exposing the NI Human Rights Commission and just waited until Dominic spoke to Owen and then got themselves elected?#
That is a recipe for opting-out of politics.
BTW just remind (with examples) of how effective all the Conservative peers are let alone the others from Ulster?
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