Unionist MPs deny deal with PM over 42-day vote
We will be a force to be reckoned with in future, say Northern Ireland group
Published:
The nine Northern Ireland MPs who saved Gordon Brown from his first Commons defeat last night denied doing any deal with the UK Government.
The Democratic Unionists insisted they had sided with the government purely on the merits of the case for a 42-day pre-charge detention period.
But they said they would be reminding the major parties that they were a force to be reckoned with in future knife-edge votes.
With the government winning by just nine votes yesterday, it was the DUP’s support that swung the balance in the prime minister’s favour.
Gregory Campbell, one of the DUP MPs, said their decision had come down to the wire yesterday and was influenced by concessions from ministers in recent weeks. It was only confirmed when they filed into the division lobbies in support of the Government’s proposal.
“It was a very close call because of the complicated nature of safeguarding the UK from the international terrorist threat and preserving the civil liberties of the accused,” he said.
Asked why they had taken until yesterday to reach a decision, Mr Campbell rejected accusations from opponents of the anti-terror measure that they had been bribed by ministers.
“We wanted to hear the complicated arguments of either side,” he said.
All Labour MPs representing seats in the north, north-east and north central Scotland voted for the 42 days.
Aberdeen North Labour MP Frank Doran said: “It was a victory but it was not without a price.”
Mr Doran, who changed his mind from earlier opposing extended detention, hastened to add that he regarded the price as “moral” – and not the £200million which the DUP MPs have denied they traded for the Northern Ireland budget.
He said: “I was satisfied that sufficient safeguards have been put in place. I did have doubts about the original measure but after discussion and movement on the part of the government, I was satisfied.”
Mr Doran said he knew nothing about allegations that the nine DUP MPs whose block vote “saved” the government had secured a deal over the sale of surplus defence land in Ulster or the supply of water.
Orkney and Shetland Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael, a champion of civil liberties, said that if the rumours were true, the behaviour of the DUP MPs had been “brazen”.
He said any unrelated “pork barrel” deal over an issue of such fundamental importance for civil liberties would be a sign of “moral bankruptcy”.
Gordon Lib Dem MP Malcolm Bruce said: “It was an expensive vote and although the prime minister may have won now, he has not secured a change in the law because it has still to get through the Lords.”
SNP home affairs spokes man and Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart MP, said Ulster MPs were “effectively imposing a form of internment on the rest of the country” and warned: “There may well have been a heavy price tag for this hollow victory.”
Readers' Comments