GREEN Party leader Steven Agnew has refuted the Alliance Party’s claim that it is the first party to voluntarily reveal its big financial backers.
Alliance MP Naomi Long announced her party’s decision in the House of Commons on Wednesday and in a later statement claimed that it was “the first local party” to publish details of big donors over £7,000.
However, Mr Agnew yesterday pointed out that his party has been publishing details of every donation over £500 – a much lower threshold than that used by Alliance – since last January,
“I’m delighted that the Alliance Party has followed suit on this and I hope that others will do the same,” he said.
“But ultimately this shouldn’t be something that’s voluntary. It has always been my contention that in the case of those parties which have argued for secrecy on this issue, the security issue is a smoke screen for hiding financial dealings from the electorate.
“Speculation [about corruption] occurs all the time and there is no way to either prove or disprove it without transparency on funding.”