The Ulster Unionist Party’s Chief Whip, Robbie Butler MLA, has described Sinn Fein claims that updating the Electoral Roll is some kind of purge, as a classic example of fake news.

Robbie Butler said:

“The most basic democratic principles are that elections are free and fair. Underpinning this is the notion that the Electoral Roll itself is as accurate and up to date as possible. People die, they move house, they change their names, they leave Northern Ireland, other people arrive and over time the register will inevitably become less accurate and need to be updated.

“Just last week Michelle O’Neill urged many to ‘dial down the rhetoric.’ Perhaps this is a chance to lead by example, because for Sinn Fein to claim that the legal requirement to update the register is some kind of purge, is quite frankly worthy of Donald Trump, who claimed the US Presidential election was bogus with no evidence to support such a claim, and in doing so undermined the democratic process. Here we have Sinn Fein seeking to undermine our own democratic process with inflammatory language, and that is utterly shameful from a leading party of government.

“Many people were indeed purged from previous electoral rolls when they were murdered by terrorist groups like the IRA, but strangely enough Sinn Fein never had a problem with that.

“The Ulster Unionist Party has confidence in the Electoral Office and the process. We welcome the updating of the register and have no doubt that the period from July to December will be sufficient to ensure that Northern Ireland can develop a new and updated register which is accurate. Sinn Fein would be better served by encouraging people to register, rather than indulging in inflammatory propaganda that is designed to undermine confidence in the electoral process here.”