A conservative bid to strip Sinn Féin MPs of their Westminster offices and entitlements was heavily defeated in a Commons vote last night.
The motion was brought by the Tory spokesman on the North, Mr Quentin Davies. He sought to overturn a decision made last December by MPs to allocate Westminster privileges to the four Sinn Féin MPs, Mr Gerry Adams, Mr Martin McGuinness, Mr Pat Doherty and Ms Michelle Gildernew. The decision to open Westminster offices to republican members who refuse to take the oath of allegiance to the queen was passed by MPs last December, following lobbying by senior Labour Party figures among their own backbenchers. Offices at Westminster were awarded in January. The Conservative move, which came after alleged IRA breaches of its ceasefire and the Belfast Agreement, was defeated by 336 votes to 140, a government majority of 196.
In his first appearance at the Despatch Box as Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy said he was convinced of Sinn Féin's commitment to the peace process and warned that removing the party's MPs from Westminster would not help the republican movement complete its transition to entirely peaceful means.
"I do not see how the withdrawal of office facilities and other associated entitlements in this place could realistically influence the paramilitaries to abandon the course of violence . . . Withdrawal of the facilities that were accorded at the end of last year would only give them further grounds for saying that the government and parliament are unreliable and that their word to nationalism can never be relied on."
Sinn Féin described the debate as "a pointless distraction".