Double-jobbing doublespeak from DUP

Speaking after Peter Robinson's comments about double-jobbing, South Down UUP MLA John McCallister said:

"I welcome the fact that Peter Robinson has said that 'double-jobbing' DUP MPs and MLAS will be standing down before the next election. But he says that "only some" will be standing down. Which raises two questions-why only some and who are they?

It also raises the question of why the DUP voted against UUP proposals on double-jobbing only two months ago, when the Assembly debated the motion:

That this Assembly calls on the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister to request the UK Government to bring forward legislation to prohibit dual mandates of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the UK Parliament.

The DUP voted against the Motion! This is the view of some of their MLAs

Michelle Mcilveen:

"If the First Minister were to be excluded from being an MP, that may weaken Northern Ireland's lobbying position at Westminster. The DUP does not send a B-team to represent Northern Ireland's interests ... The motion is premature ... it is up to the electorate to decide".

Gregory Campbell:

"It will cost more to have single-mandate MLAs … There is a considerable amount of work to be done before we can proceed to impose single mandates".

Peter Weir

"Between 1921 and 1972, throughout the term of the old Stormont, there was, in effect, a convention that meant that only on rare occasions did someone hold a dual mandate. Was that good for unionism? Were Northern Ireland's interests best protected, particularly from a unionist perspective, when the country plunged into difficulties in the 1960s? Did we benefit from having the B team at Westminster? The answer is no; we were utterly unprepared and, indeed, we failed to have any of our big hitters at Westminster ... I do not have a problem with dual mandates ...Can we not let the people decide who they elect and who they do not elect"

Simon Hamilton:

"To effectively bar British citizens from running for election to their own sovereign Parliament is not something that I consider to be democratic. It is certainly not in the finest traditions of British parliamentary democracy".

UUP MEP Jim Nicholson continued:

These statements were made just over 2 months ago. 2 months ago the DUP were telling us that voters should be left to decide on double-jobbing; that single mandates cost more than dual mandates; that acting against dual mandates was anti-British; that there was 'no problem' with dual mandates.

"Given the DUP's capacity for promising one thing and then doing something entirely different, I would call upon Mr. Robinson to now name the DUP double-jobbers who will be standing down. Otherwise some of us will be tempted to conclude that this announcement is merely a cynical attempt to fool some of the people in the run-up to an election!