Archive for January, 2010

East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson has welcomed the result of votes this week in the House of Lords.

The House of Lords voted to reject the Governments proposals that would force churches and religious organisations to hire people whose lifestyles were in direct opposition to the teachings and beliefs that they held.

Mr Wilson said:

“I welcome the result of the votes this week, and I am pleased that the status quo was maintained. The changes proposed by the Government have little to do with solving problems that currently exist or making good legislation. Rather the Government simply does not like the deeply held beliefs that many of our churches and religious organisations hold.

The revelation today that 1 in 20 people in Northern Ireland do not pay their TV licence and that this has been a persistent trend calls into question once again the way in which the BBC is funded, Sammy Wilson has said.

The East Antrim MP made the following remarks:

“It is clear that the system of guaranteed funding for the BBC through a compulsory tax on the population does not work.

I don’t think that any of us who went to Hatfield House for talks last weekend were in any way surprised at the attention which the event attracted when it became public knowledge. There is nothing that excites the press more than the discovery of an event about which they were not notified or which they failed to detect before it happened. Needless to say when there are a number of people involved and when they have to report back to their parties, it is not long before bits of news filter out and the speculation frenzy starts. What surprised me is that it took so long.

The last week was one of the most exceptional weeks in the history of N.I. for some time. The press and some political parties tried to move what was a story about a personal scandal to a political crisis. Some clearly thought that the personal problems of the First Minister could be used as a lever to obtain a quick resolution to the issues around the devolution of policing and justice and raised the temperature by introducing deadlines for the completion of this project.

Sammy Wilson has asked the Secretary of State for Climate Change how much it cost to send his ministers and officials to the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, and was disappointed to learn that the expensive jamboree is estimated to have cost £350,000.

The East Antrim representative said:

“The total cost of sending 38 people to Copenhagen was £350,000. This figure includes office space rent though why they needed to rent office space I have no idea. Nevertheless, three questions need to be asked of the Government. First, what was the justification for sending 38 people to Copenhagen? Second, why did this cost £350,000 (nearly £10,000 each) and finally – was it worth it?

I love my job or jobs as some people keep reminding me, and after a week off during Christmas I was looking forward to getting back to them. There was an election to prepare for, budget statements to finalise for presentation to the Assembly, discussions about the remaining issues to be resolved in order to get to the place where we could move on the devolution of policing and justice, and all the usual dealings with constituents. On Monday I headed into the office fired up and raring to go. By the end of the week I must admit I was emotionally shattered and was asking did I really want to be in this job.

Sammy Wilson has expressed his horror at plans by extremist group Islam4UK to march through Wootton Bassett to protest against the war in Afghanistan.

The MP was voiced his objection to the group protesting through the Wiltshire town, saying that it is intended to be an insult to the memory of those who have gallantly fought and died in Afghanistan and it should be opposed on those grounds.

Mr Wilson said:

With Westminster and the Assembly in recess, I had most of last week off and spent a good deal of it working in my garden building a dry stone wall – a wall in which no cement is used and the stones are just set on one another. Whilst the weather was not the best due to the fact that it was freezing every day nevertheless the peacefulness of the garden, the chirping of the birds attracted by the bird feeders, the beautiful scenery over Larne Lough and the sense of achievement as the wall took shape, made them the most pleasant few days I have spent for a long time.

As I have done for quite a number of years now, I spent part of Christmas Day at the Salvation Army on the Cregagh Road. Every year the building is open on Christmas day and a large number of volunteers provide dinner for around 70 – 100 people who would otherwise be alone over Christmas or be unable to afford or cook themselves a Christmas dinner. For many of those who come, I suspect the attraction is the friendly company and the opportunity to escape from surroundings which hold painful memories or because the loneliness of the house gives another meaning to the words of the carol ‘Silent Night’.