Lady Hermon
Main Page: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)Department Debates - View all Lady Hermon's debates with the Northern Ireland Office
(6 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberI firmly believe that transparency is the important thing that we have here. We should all know where money is coming from, and I understand the hon. Gentleman’s comments.
I am very interested to hear the Secretary of State’s explanation of why the Northern Ireland Office deliberately and wilfully ignored the advice and recommendations of the Electoral Commission that the publication of donations to political parties in Northern Ireland should be backdated to 2014, not 2017.
There was no wilful ignoring or anything else. My predecessor consulted all the parties in Northern Ireland and there was broad support for July 2017.