6^th January 2017, London – Political parties based in Northern Ireland must catch up with the rest of the UK and provide full transparency over political donations and loans. Following the opening of a consultation by the Northern Ireland Secretary, Transparency International UK will be writing to all political parties in Northern Ireland, urging them to agree to reveal who funds them.

Duncan Hames, Director of Policy Transparency International UK said:

“For too long, political parties in Northern Ireland have lagged behind the rest of the UK - failing to reveal who funds them. The potential for hidden payments is a serious corruption risk in politics and should end as soon as possible. The public deserve to know, and in the absence of published information they are left only to speculate, and the rumour mill thrives.”

“In 2014 the UK Parliament passed a law to enable these contributions to be made public and certain parties are already doing so voluntarily. It is high-time this law was commenced, rather than relying on parties to make a voluntary break from the secretive norm.”

“It is vital that political parties seize this opportunity to meet their democratic obligations to the people of Northern Ireland, and not use the consultation to block progress. The only acceptable outcome from this consultation is to agree it is time for full transparency of political donations and loans to all political parties. Any party that fails to get behind full transparency will only attract further questions as to what it is they wish to hide.”

***ENDS***

Notes:

• Our recent publication “Take Back Control: How big money undermines public trust in politics” recommends that the UK Government this year bring forward necessary secondary legislation to implement full transparency over the funding of political parties in Northern Ireland.

Contact:
Dominic Kavakeb
Dominic.kavakeb@transparency.org.uk
020 3096 7695
079 6456 0340