The Alliance Party’s South Belfast representative made the comments on the week an SDLP motion on the possibly of a hung parliament was debated in the Assembly, further criticising Alasdair McDonnell’s poor record at Westminster.
Paula Bradshaw said: “Plain and simple, South Belfast’s outgoing MP does not represent the people of South Belfast. All he does is drain valuable resources, with each vote he actually manages to turn up to costing South Belfast voters over £3,000.
“Alasdair McDonnell doesn’t even seem to realise Westminster has been divided for the past five years, if his Party’s motion today is anything to go by. While he continues to double job – dividing his time between London and Belfast – Naomi Long has been working hard over the past five years for her constituents, delivering the best for Northern Ireland and proving just how effective an Alliance MP can be.
“And his position has been made further untenable, with his performance ranked 635th out of the 650 MPs over the past five years. Again Alliance has led the way, with Naomi Long fulfilling her commitment to end double jobbing in 2010, immediately standing down from the Assembly. Yet five years later Alasdair McDonnell still refuses to state if he will continue to double job until 2016, when he will finally be forced to pick one or the other.
“One thing the SDLP has right is that there is a better way. There is a better way than part-time MPs who promote inefficiency at great cost to us all. It is time instead that South Belfast had a full-time MP committed to delivery and efficient government for everyone – something only Alliance can deliver.”