Nine days before the U.K. General Election being held on 12
December 2019, I received a flier
canvassing for my vote from the standing MP for my constituency of South
Belfast.
As she didn’t come and chat, I decided to write (7 Dec) to her email address.
Dear Mrs Little Pengelly,
Thank you for your Westminster election communication
delivered to my address. I read with interest
the reasons it provides to vote for you next week.
Unfortunately your canvasser didn’t knock on our
door to discuss it. In the absence of an
opportunity to debate its contents, allow me to ask you by email.
Voters, you argue, should "support a party
which has delivered £1.5 billion for Northern Ireland..."
This week, I have passed workplaces in Belfast
where NHS staff and university staff stand in freezing cold to publicise
campaigns for fair pay. Has the £1.5b
been paid in part or in full or not any to date? And can you demonstrate whether or not the windfall has been paid by the Exchequer either to
Stormont, the NI Office or to DUP?
Given your use of the past tense (delivered),
please outline the programmes and projects to which it has been allocated in
Northern Ireland and with what results, given the 3 year absence of devolved
government.
Is the £1.5b a re-allocation of the normal block
grant or is it additional to the grant awarded from Westminster under the
Barnett formula?
If it has been paid, what conditions were attached
in the letter of offer?
What Economic Appraisals (HM Treasury’s Green Book requirement)
been carried out to assess projects and programmes funded by the £1.5b?
The striking sight of NHS and QUB workers suggests
that the £1.5billion, if it exists in reality, is not assisting the people who
deliver education and health.
Does the £1.5 billion include an allocation for the
"botched" Renewable Heating Scheme?
Perhaps that débacle is to be paid from the block grant or directly by
Westminster on top of the block grant and the DUP £1.5b?
If you can show me that the £1.5b has been delivered
with identifiable results, does your flier’s comment that the DUP "wants
to get more done" mean that the block grant +£1.5 billion is insufficient
support for Northern Ireland’s needs from UK taxpayers?
Another reason listed to vote for you is to
"protect Northern Ireland's place in the UK."
Your constituents are well aware that you disregard
the majority view in South Belfast (and across Northern Ireland) on Brexit. How does a stance which will reduce UK GDP and
terminate EU citizenship protect the British union; does it endear your
constituents to reciprocate your vision?
The threat to this union is not coming from
Ireland. Its PM, An Taoiseach (whom the DUP leader condemns as “intransigent”) has
spoken against a border poll. We have spent a lifetime content to tolerate
union with GB; the prospects of your hard Brexit, however, and your leader’s
support for illegal action by the Monarch to whom “loyalty” is shamelessly worn
on her lapel does Little to promote protective support.
The prospect of Britain’s union collapsing comes
instead from north of the border. Scotland's Government is intent on seeking
independence because of the Brexit your party has fashioned with the
Conservatives.
Another argument you flag to win my vote is to claim
that DUP are the "strongest unionist team."
This assertion sits uneasily with the DUP’s track record and with its ultimate
achievement, the latest UK/EU Withdrawal Agreement. Your party denounces it as
"The Betrayal Act." That phrase echoes the PM’s much-criticised
term “Surrender Act” for Hilary Benn’s bill.
Voters will recall DUP criticisms of others
(excluding the PM) to “dial down their rhetoric.”
Your constituents are reminded of the DUP’s public
endorsement of a strategy which drew Her Majesty into proroguing Parliament,
illegally. What sort of advertisement is that for strong unionism as it
inflicts reputational damage on the Monarch of her divided kingdom?
The PM refutes your mantra that his Withdrawal
Agreement creates a border (your flier’s penultimate reason for giving you my
vote inexplicably refers to "borders") in the Irish Sea. He argues repeatedly that under his “excellent
deal” there will be no trade barriers between GB and Northern Ireland.
Has your trust in him evaporated; are you calling
the UK’s PM a liar? Or, worse still,
arising from the betrayal accusation are you dubbing him a traitor, betraying
your loyalty?
The other reason you add to enlist my vote is that
your party "will not support a Corbyn Government." I have previously sent you links to the many
expert reports by official bodies such as the NIESR, the Office for Budget Responsibility,
the Bank of England, the ESRI, and others - including HM Treasury – all of
which provide overwhelming evidence that Brexit will damage the UK’s economy.
It takes Jeremy Corbyn to make the DUP case and to rebut
the PM with hard evidence. The Labour
Party leader presents a document from the Treasury as proof of trade barriers between
GB and Northern Ireland and your party leader changes heart. At a stroke DUP supports both Mr Corbyn as
well as H.M. Treasury expertise.
DUP objections to regulatory alignment between
Northern Ireland and Great Britain have been expressed boisterously during
Brexit. It has been the DUP justification
for opposing all UK/EU Withdrawal Agreements.
And this is in
spite of the fact that DUP in Government presided over a scheme for Renewable
Heating which abandoned GB regulatory safeguards, its cost controls.
With a record in regional government that treated public
finances in such a way, voters are sceptical about DUP financial management and
about the sincerity of your declaration to deliver on devolved health and
education.
Can the party which ended the regulatory alignment
of pay parity be trusted to control health and education prudently?
I won’t even mention a series of other examples of
regulatory alignment, bête noirs for the DUP.
It wants important social issues to be legally regulated on the basis of
theology rather than on the contemporary basis on Britain's secular laws.
The inconsistency in your stance to regulatory
alignment matches neither UK nor international standards.
In a sentence, it is difficult to be persuaded by
any single one of your six reasons. Nevertheless, we will mull over your
request to vote “Little Pengelly X.” And
we wish you a Happy Christmas.
An
automated reply within a minute or two reassuringly acknowledged receipt.
It added, interestingly, that “there are currently no MPs.” That is because “Parliament has been dissolved until the General Election.” As a result, I checked Mrs Pengelly’s website and her email contact address remains the Parliamentary one. I expect that she will retain access to mail from her constituents.
It added, interestingly, that “there are currently no MPs.” That is because “Parliament has been dissolved until the General Election.” As a result, I checked Mrs Pengelly’s website and her email contact address remains the Parliamentary one. I expect that she will retain access to mail from her constituents.
A list of
the empirical evidence set out in official reports and pointing to the economic
damage which Brexit will cause is summarised in an earlier post[i].
©Michael McSorley 2019
