Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has slammed Sinn Fein’s deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness for suggesting, in a recent interview with Rodney Edwards of the Impartial Reporter, that Westminster is a retirement home for politicians.
Mr Nesbitt said:
“It is interesting that Martin McGuinness thinks of someone like Michelle Gildernew as long-time retired from politics. It is also noteworthy he wants to pension off a 30 year old in Chris Hazzard, but given Hazzard’s disastrous exposition of Sinn Féin’s economic policy on Radio Ulster last week, that is probably a pretty smart move. Mr Hazzard wants government to pay off everyone's credit card debts; how very responsible!
“Given Sinn Féin won Fermanagh South Tyrone last time by less than a handful of votes, it will be hard for people to take that Mr McGuinness has such a negative message about his own candidates.
“If he thinks MPs have no role to play in our everyday lives, he need look no further than 30 August 2013, when MPs voted to deny the Prime Minister’s wish to start a war, against Syria. The vote was close, 285 to 272, but of course, Sinn Féin didn’t bother turning up. Maybe it was pensioners’ discount day at the local DIY store in the City of London! But on a serious point, their votes could have made the difference.
“I believe the people of Northern Ireland deserve better than candidates wedded to an outdated strategy of abstentionism, which delivers nothing positive. I was deeply frustrated by the impact of their abstentionist position when the Prime Minister came to Stormont House for the talks last December. This was an opportunity to make a special case regarding Welfare Reform, an opportunity I took to make the case for tackling our shocking rates of poor mental health and wellbeing. Mr Cameron got it. But he did not get Martin McGuinness as he tried to argue against Welfare Reform in principle, because this was December 2014, and Welfare Reform was enacted by Parliament in March 2012!
“The people of Northern Ireland deserve MPs who turn up in the right place at the right time, not candidates from parties who want to undo the settled will of the people months and years after the event, because of this destructive and negative policy of abstentionism.
“Westminster is not a retirement home. Nor should it be a cash cow, delivering over £100,000 a year in expenses to Michelle Gildernew. If the unionist vote turns out this time, I am confident the people of Fermanagh South Tyrone will elect Tom Elliott on the 7th of May and once again benefit from a Member of Parliament who will work hard, including the duty to put in the unglamorous long hours on the green benches, for the benefit of all the people.”