Petition launched to recall British MP who lobbied for Sri Lanka

A petition has been launched to unseat DUP MP Ian Paisley after he was suspended from the British parliament for failing to declare two holidays that were paid for by the Sri Lankan government and later lobbying on the country's behalf against an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The parliamentary recall petition, the first one launched since such legislation was introduced, sees Mr Paisley at risk of a possible by-election in his constituency seat of North Antrim in Northern Ireland.

If 10% of the electorate, or 7,543 people, sign the petition over the next six weeks, a by-election will be triggered.

Mr Paisley has already been suspended from the DUP and British parliament for 30 days, after an investigation found he had accepted holidays worth £100,000 from the Sri Lankan government, including two all-inclusive holidays for him and his four children, flying business class with VIP lounge access, six hotels across two trips and being chauffeur driven in a Mercedes. The trip was funded by the Sri Lankan ministry of external affairs. A helicopter was also provided for Mr Paisley and his family to travel around the island, with Sri Lankan ministry of defence approval.

A damning report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards said Mr Paisley Jr’s actions amounted to “paid advocacy”.

 

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button