TUV conference: Gaston proposes legislation to jail Stormont ‘expenses fiddlers’ - and says TEO committee is 'dysfunctional'
Timothy Gaston has told the TUV conference that he has proposed amendments to legislation on MLA pay which would mean jail for any Stormont politicians found guilty of attempting to “fiddle” the expenses system.
He also slammed the Executive Office committee on which he sits as “dysfunctional”.
The North Antrim MLA said that for weeks Assembly members have only been concerned with how they can justify “giving themselves a pay rise” to the public.
Addressing party members in Cookstown on Saturday, Mr Gaston announced that he “tabled amendments to the bill which are actually lifted almost word for word out of the Westminster legislation to require MLAs to comply with the rules when it comes to expenses.
“Furthermore, I can tell you today that if my amendments are passed, MLAs who attempt to fiddle the system at their own will, well, they’ll be going to jail.
“That is what happens with the Westminster system, so if the Stormont MLAs want to be judged in similar terms regarding pay, they have to live by the same rules.
“TUV is serious about delivering better government for the people of Northern Ireland – and ensuring that those who fail to deliver are held to account”.
Mr Gaston replaced party leader Jim Allister in the Assembly after the latter was elected to parliament in July. He said that over the last six months the TUV had demonstrated that the party could achieve plenty when Jim Allister is in a different chamber.
The TUV MLA said by the next election he wants to be surrounded by new TUV colleagues, rather than Alliance members, at Stormont.
And taking aim at colleagues on the Executive Office committee – he said that the vast majority didn’t know their job was to scrutinise. Relations on the scrutiny body have been fractious since his arrival, with repeated clashes with the chair Paula Bradshaw over what its role is.
The Alliance MLA has criticised Mr Gaston for questioning the witness’s “lived experience” – and said she “was never going to challenge” someone giving evidence.
He said he has exposed the fact that “protecting the process was more important than getting to the truth”.