Archive for January 28th, 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.