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Business of the House

We shall have a free vote on next Wednesday’s business on allowances for Sinn Fein, so I shall have to think for myself. Will the Leader of the House kindly help me by clarifying one or two points? As I understand it, one of the resolutions before us will not only restore the allowances that were taken away but give a new, additional allowance exclusively to Sinn Fein, which will be better than the Short money that the Conservatives and the Liberals get. Resolution 45 uses the words"““in relation to the party’s representative business.””" That is much more widely drawn than the definition given to my hon. Friend the Member for Houghton and Washington, East (Mr. Kemp) in recent replies to questions about Short money. This will be Hain money—or Sinn Hain money, if you like. It will be a new allowance, and I am not persuaded that it can be justified by any of the criteria that have been laid down for the receipt of Short money.