‘British Government covering up DUP dark money’ – Conor Murphy

The British Government’s refusal to backdate new laws on political donations is aimed at covering-up so-called Brexit ‘dark money’ that was paid to the DUP, Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy has said.

The Newry-Armagh MLA was speaking after the British Government introduced an order to lift the ban on naming political donors here, but did not backdate it.

“The British Government is only now bringing forward this Order after it was severely criticised by the Electoral Commission,” Murphy told Newry Times.

“However, they are still refusing to make it retrospective and that is the crucial point because it means there will be no transparency around the vast sums that were paid to the DUP during the Brexit referendum.

“Thanks mainly to the work of investigative journalists, we know that the DUP received £425,000 but they and the pro-Brexit campaign are still refusing to provide full details about the shadowy group of British corporate business interests who paid the money.

He continued, “This  announcement will do nothing to shine any light on this ‘dark money’ because the law will only apply to donations from July of this year forward.

“If the DUP and the British Government were serious about transparency in government then they would support the retrospective publication from January 2014 of all donations over the reportable threshold. That is the position adopted by Sinn Féin and all the Executive parties except the DUP.

The local MLA added, “However, rather than compelling them to come clean, the British Government have today confirmed their intention to assist the ongoing cover-up of the DUP’s dark money.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Nov 28 2017. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry