Keeping Craigavon Safe
MLAs have been debating the Stormont Budget Bill all day and into the evening. It's a rather amorphous discussion, in which the politicians can raise almost anything which takes their fancy. If the Bill doesn't pass we'll know about it quickly enough as civil servants will stop getting their wages. But as things stand the likelihood of that is less than zero.
The main development today is that we have been told there will be no DUP reshuffle this week. This contrasts with what I had been told at the end of last week. So is the party finding some difficulties getting its politicians to agree to their new places in the jigsaw?
Meanwhile the DUP are still trying to work out what went wrong at the European election. One politician told me that in their area they had spoken to 16 voters who deserted the DUP for the TUV. The politician claimed 13 of them had put their decision down to Westminster expenses. This issue probably won't be quite so high profile next time around, although it's too soon to diagnose "expenses fatigue" amongst the electorate - especially as the Commons is set to release its won "redacted" tranche of receipts later this week. This may provide fresh information on those MPs which the Daily Telegraph hasn't got around to looking at just yet.
Finally, to a question from the SDLP's John Dallat caught my eye. He wanted to know how much was spent on providing security for Lord Craigavon's statue, which stands on the stairs which lead into Stormont's Great Hall. The Assembly Commission responded that "there is no specific attributable cost in providing security for the statue of Lord Craigavon as there are no staff specifically assigned to this duty." However the Deputy Speaker insists he has information that the Great Hall security staff are specifically tasked with keeping Craigavon safe. "From who?" you might wonder. Well at least it's a change from rubbing him with baby oil. .
I'm 
Comments