People paid £2m to parties

THE people of Northern Ireland have forked out over £2m over the past three years to help local political parties establish a 32 county socialist republic and reject “unrepentant terrorists at the heart of government” amongst other policies, it has been revealed.

The payments were made under a scheme set up in 2007 to provide financial assistance to local parties.

A whopping £2,360,851 was transferred from the taxpayer to local political parties since the scheme started.

The biggest beneficiaries were the DUP (£598,649), followed by Sinn Féin (£507,483), the UUP (£399,764) and the SDLP (£391,370).

The Alliance received £266,896, the Greens received £80,311 and the Independent Health Coalition (IHC) - a vehicle set up by former independent West Tyrone MLA Dr Kieran Deeney who became its leader - received £60,248.

The people also forked out £33,894 to the PUP and £22,894 to the TUV.