MP Simpson intends to quit Assembly and council seats
UPPER Bann MP David Simpson is planning to give up his Northern Ireland Assembly seat and his position on Craigavon Borough Council.
The DUP man will be fighting the next General Election, probably next May or June, hoping to make it back to the House of Commons.
If he succeeds, he has pledged to vacate his Assembly seat, and will probably be quitting the council before then.
Mr Simpson, who told the Portadown Times that he lives on his Westminster salary, giving away the £14,000 he receives from Stormont and from Craigavon Borough Council, conceded that the next Westminster election would be tougher for the DUP than 2005 when he swept the Upper Bann incumbent and UUP leader David Trimble from power.
Since then, the DUP have embraced power sharing at the Assembly, led initially by Ian Paisley and then by Peter Robinson, which led to criticism from the UUP and from the TUV’s Jim Allister, who quit the Democrats because of their about-turn.
It all came into sharp focus at the European elections when the DUP – with Diane Dodds their candidate – saw their vote shredded, with Bairbre de Brun (SF) topping the poll and Jim Nicholson (UUP) increasing his support. Dodds – with Allister attracting a large part of her erstwhile vote – limped home without making the quota.
“We have taken all these things on board,” said Mr Simpson. “We need to connect more with our supporters and perhaps a bit of humility wouldn’t go amiss.
“But we will re-group, and I have to say that here in Upper Bann, three unionists in the field would hand the seat to Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd who would boycott Westminster. I am convinced that I am the only unionist who could win the seat.”
Mr Simpson revealed that, even though he was in the triple jobbing category, he lived on his Westminster salary which is £64,000 a year.
Being an MLA attracts a salary of £42,000, but MLAS who are also MPs receive just one-third of that. And Mr Simpson revealed that his nett salary of £1,200 per month received from the Assembly and Craigavon Borough Council was donated to local projects, community groups, charity organisations and individuals in need of financial assistance within the constituency.
“I have stepped down as chairman of the Assembly’s social development committee, and I am giving up my seats at Stormont and the Civic Centre,” he confirmed. “My aim is to concentrate on Westminster and I trust that I will be returned on my record of hard work over the past four years. I have given it all I have.”
