A news story carried by BBC yesterday began “Sinn Fein has biggest income of Northern Ireland parties” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14326665) and went on to outline the income and expenditure of the various parties operating there.
The league table it printed went as follows:
DUP: Income of £268,456; spent £335,678 – net loss of £67,222
Sinn Fein: Income of £1,289,335; spent £1,212,375 – £76,960 in the black.
UUP: Income of £440,949; spent £398,295 – £42,654 in the black.
SDLP: Income of £346,946; spent £413,238 – net loss of £66,292
However, in reality the accounts filed by the Conservative Party show that it had the second highest income in the six counties and the third highest expenditure.
It took in £408,127 and spent £391,359 leaving it in the black by £16,768.
The scale of interference of a foreign political party in Ireland is worrying but not unexpected considering the intervention in last years Westminster elections.
It clearly demonstrates that the British ruling class are still intent on supporting unionism at any cost and willing to undermine what democracy exists in the six counties in order to retain unionist support in Westminster, and in doing so undermining British democracy too.