The RHI scandal has shown the DUP has "no regard" for British taxpayers, the leader of the UUP Robin Swann has claimed.

An independent inquiry into the RHI scandal began in November last year. The renewable energy scheme ran out of control because of critical flaws in the way the initiative was set up.

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Applicants could earn more money the more fuel they burned because the subsidies on offer for renewable fuels were far greater than the cost of the fuels themselves.

When the scale of the overspend on the scheme emerged, the DUP leader Arlene Foster faced calls to resign from her role as First Minister in December 2016. She did not resign and then Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness quit in protest and collapsed the government.

After Mrs Foster finished giving evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday, UUP leader Robin Swann MLA said unionists were "horrified" by how the RHI scheme was handled and how the government at Stormont operated under the DUP and Sinn Fein.

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"The ongoing revelations about how Stormont was run by the DUP have left unionists horrified that things were being done in their name which were neither good government nor guided by any semblance of a moral compass," he said.

“It is clear that there was a disregard for British Taxpayers’ money, a sentiment unworthy of any unionist.

"The DUP wrongly believed that the Treasury would pay for RHI in full and without reservation, and had no regard to the potential costs of RHI as result.

"The DUP have claimed in the past that they worked in the best interests of all the people of the UK. It is very hard to square that circle when you examine their behaviour around the RHI debacle and their attitude to public money."

Mr Swan said even DUP voters would be "shocked and disappointed" at what they have learnt during the RHI inquiry.

He added: "It is now clear that successive DUP First Ministers presided over a government where a culture of self-preservation at all costs, and self service were dominant, and which has now been laid bare at the RHI Inquiry at Stormont."

“And all this is currently taking place against the background of huge political issues facing the United Kingdom and unionism in general."

The UUP leader also called for Sinn Fein to be brought before the inquiry to explain its role in the scandal.

The Belfast Telegraph has approached the DUP and Sinn Fein for comment.

Belfast Telegraph