DUP MP urges3-poll rethink

He referred to the embarrassing delay in the declaration of the result of the Alternative Vote (AV) referendum in Northern Ireland during a debate in the House of Commons.

The East Londonderry MP asked: “Can the Deputy Prime Minister assure us that he will do what he can to ensure that there is no repeat of what happened in Northern Ireland earlier this month, when we had three different polls on one day, an inordinate delay in declaring the AV referendum result and significant delays in the other polls as well?”

The Liberal Democrat leader said he would listen to any valid criticism of the operation of the three separate polls in Northern Ireland but maintained the elections had been conducted successfully throughout the United Kingdom.

“I am obviously very keen to hear from the hon. Gentleman any specific reservations he has about how the combination of polls operated, but the provisional feedback seems to be that, despite some very dire warnings about the combination of polls not only in Northern Ireland but elsewhere, on the whole it was conducted very successfully indeed,” said Mr Clegg.