SUNDAY LIFE reports SDLP and People Before Profit walkout from Standards and Privileges Committee in early December over DUP and Sinn Fein voting down referral of Finance Committee members dealings with Jamie Bryson to Assembly Commissioner for Standards, Douglas Bain.
WHAT’S IN A NAME; I always said if I ran for election again I’d change my surname to something beginning with an A or a B. Nicholl is such an unfortunate political surname, especially in Northern Ireland where it gets lost after all the M’s. Because it is a truth generally acknowledged that candidates who are first on the ballot tend to receive a vote advantage compared to those whose names begin with letters later in the alphabet.
HAND ON THE TILLER: We have all been obsessed over the last few days with who will take the First Minister post. Yet, Arlene Foster’s promotion leaves an important vacancy that will have to be filled and lets not forget we have a budget to be presented at the end of January.
Much attention has been expended on the DUP use of Petition of Concerns (POC). Unsurprising since they’ve had a good run of appearances recently, including: the blocking of a bill for Rates Relief for Sports Clubs; (almost) every amendment to a welfare reform bill in February; a same sex Marriage bill in April; and it is expected another will emerge on the same issue later today. After the April POC, a small number of party insiders furtively suggested to Slugger that the DUP have their MLAs “bulk sign” …
The soundbite of the week past probably came from Westminster and from David Cameron at PMQs. Probed repeatedly by the leader of the Opposition on the cost of cuts to tax credits to the ordinary family, the Prime Minister simply said the reform was blocked by an alliance of “the unelected and the unelectable.” Stormont had an eventful week itself, and I suppose you could argue those adjectives apply to the First Minister and new Junior Minister. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist …
In todays News Letter, Sam McBride has a report on the mounting pressure for Peter Robinson to step down as DUP leader and First Minister. McBride reports the concern within the party about how the DUP would do in an Assembly election led by Robinson; There is concern within the party at how it would fare if an election was called, with one senior figure telling the News Letter that the DUP has been “haemorrhaging” support over recent weeks. In …
This rumour was doing the rounds last week, but in my ignorance, I thought it unlikely due to Emma’s role in the DFP committee and the fact she has only been there as an MLA for a few weeks. But Peter Robinson is set to appoint Emma to replace Michelle McIlveen as the new Junior Minister in OFM/DFM. Speaking to Rebecca Black in the Belfast Telegraph today, Emma says; I am looking forward to the challenge and also the opportunities …
