NI: UK government pressed to backdate publication of political donations to 2014
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The UK government is facing calls from opposition MPs to allow the backdated publication of Northern Ireland political donations from January 2014.
The Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 provides for the Northern Ireland Secretary to allow or require the Electoral Commission to publish information about political donations in Northern Ireland from no earlier than 1 January 2014.
However, the UK government has instead whipped its MPs to back a Statutory Instrument (SI) providing for publication of donations from summer 2017, which opposition MPs say will prevent scrutiny of donations made during the 2016 EU membership referendum.
Questions have been aimed at the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since it emerged the party had spent £280,000 on a four-page wrap-around pro-Brexit advert in the free Metro newspaper, which is circulated in Great Britain but not in Northern Ireland.
The party has also been challenged to divulge more about a massive £425,000 donation from the “Constitutional Research Council”.
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