DUP MP: Why pick on DUP over donations?

A senior DUP figure has suggested the media are singling out his party on the issue of political donations.
Jeffrey DonaldsonJeffrey Donaldson
Jeffrey Donaldson

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP was responding to a story this week, unearthed by investigative news website The Detail and followed up other outlets, which showed he had tried to delay publication of some of the party’s financial information until after last month’s election.

The Detail set out a long chain of e-mails between the DUP and the Electoral Commission (the government body which keeps track of political financing), in which Sir Jeffrey and other party figures called for the publication of EU referendum spending to be put off until after March 2.

This included the fact his party spent an incredible sum of over £425,000 on its Leave campaign (a sum almost as large as the party’s entire annual income).

The commission nonetheless proceeded to publish on February 24.

Under pressure to reveal how it had so much money at its disposal, the DUP then declared publicly that it had been given a donation of about £435,000 by a little-known group, the Constitutional Research Council.

The Detail’s story has put renewed focus on the issue of political donations in the Province; unlike the rest of the UK, all donations to Northern Irish parties remain hidden (although some smaller parties, like the Alliance, publish theirs voluntarily).

Sir Jeffrey said: “The fact is that none of the other main parties in Northern Ireland have published information about who they receive their donations from.

“My challenge to the media who are constantly hounding the DUP on this issue is a very simple one: what are you doing to challenge the other political parties on this issue?

“In the end, the DUP is one party. There are other parties that also engage in fundraising activities, and yet it seems to me the media are not interested in asking them for transparency.”