Sinn Fein MPs who choose not to take their seat in Westminster should face similar pay sanctions to Assembly members, the DUP has said

Sinn Fein MPs who choose not to take their seat in Westminster should face similar pay sanctions to Assembly members, the DUP has said.

The call came after Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley announced she would be cutting MLA pay.

Ms Bradley justified the cut by telling MPs that the MLAs were not "performing the full range of their legislative functions".

DUP MPs asked the Northern Ireland Secretary whether the same logic could be applied to Sinn Fein MPs who refuse to take their seats in the House of Commons.

Speaking in the Commons, DUP MP Gregory Campbell asked Ms Bradley: "Does she not apply the same logic then to abstentionist Members of Parliament? They claim hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money for not performing their full legislative function."

Fellow DUP MP Jim Shannon added: "If you're going to hit the pockets of the Northern Ireland Assembly members, which is right to do, would the Secretary of State agree that the same principles for Northern Ireland Assembly members should now apply to those who refuse to do their work in this House?"

Ms Bradley responded by saying that the matter of pay and allowance was "a matter for this House and therefore not one that it would be appropriate for me to comment on".

Belfast Telegraph