Ulster Unionist welfare spokesperson Robbie Butler MLA has accused Sinn Fein of rank hypocrisy after it emerged a motion will be debated at their weekend Ard Fheis supposedly reaffirming their opposition to welfare reform.  

It was Sinn Fein who, along with the Alliance Party and DUP, in November 2015 voted to ask MPs at Westminster to implement changes to Northern Ireland’s welfare system.

Robbie Butler said:

“Whilst Sinn Fein often try to rewrite the past and distort the facts, their central involvement in the acquiescence of welfare reform across Northern Ireland is indisputable.

“Sinn Fein not only signed up to the Stormont House Agreement, but were vocal proponents of it. Agreeing to the full implementation of welfare reform, including the roll-out of Universal Credit and the move to the Personal Independence Payment, were a key element of that agreement.

“Then, in the subsequent Fresh Start Agreement, Sinn Fein again agreed to the implementation of the reforms.

“For Sinn Fein to now be debating a motion at their Ard Fheis that ‘re-affirms their opposition to cruel Tory Welfare Reforms’ is rank hypocrisy and a barefaced attempt at distorting the truth.

“The motion, which is being presented by Sinn Fein members from Strabane and Enniskillen, also claims that it was Sinn Fein that somehow secured the subsequent mitigations package. Again that is just not the case, instead it is Sinn Fein that are single-handedly risking the cliff-edge of no mitigations being in place after March 2020 due to the absence of a local Executive.

“The recent Parliamentary inquiry into welfare policy was categorical when it stated that the current mitigation measures needed to be extended. I welcomed and agreed with its clear recommendation. For Sinn Fein to now try to claim they were opposed to the reforms is not only untrue, but also exposes their two-facedness given their actions which are threatening tens of thousands of local households with serious economic hardship after March next year.

“There have been many problems with the 2015 welfare changes, but for Sinn Fein especially there is simply no disputing the fact that they were centrally involved in the triumvirate agreement with the Alliance Party and DUP in introducing them.”