Sinn Fein stresses it follows all salary rules as DUP calls for MP income to be declared

Sinn Fein MPs (currently numbering seven) do not draw salaries from Westminster because they do not take their seats, though they are entitled to allowances for things like office staffing costs.

The party has previously been quoted as saying that its MPs – like all its elected representatives, except councillors – get an "average industrial wage" as opposed to being given a full standard MP salary of just over £84,000.

For example, back in 2009 then then-MEP Mary Lou McDonald said in a statement that "I, like all Sinn Fein elected representatives and workers, am paid the average industrial wage from my salary, after which a small amount goes back the party and the remainder to provide improved constituency services – this is a principle I am immensely proud of".

However, it is not obvious how this works in the case of their abstentionist MPs, given that they get no direct salary from Westminster.

Sinn Fein has been asked what its payment arrangements are for its MPs, like how much they get, but has not addressed this at time of writing, saying only that it is “fully compliant” with all the relevant rules.

Now South Down DUP MLA Diane Forsythe is arguing that whatever monies Sinn Fein MPs are getting should in fact be declarable to the Parliamentary Standards Authority.

This is because the current arrangements mean "Sinn Fein MPs are the only elected representatives across the UK or Republic of Ireland whose salaries are secret from the public", she said.

In a separate 2009 statement to the one quoted above, Sinn Fein had said that its MPs, "like all party members who are paid a wage, receive exactly the same average industrial wage which is £356 per week, net".

Then in 2018, the Irish News reported the party as saying: "All Sinn Fein MLAs currently make a voluntary donation, which is the equivalent of the net balance of their Assembly salary after they take the recommended party wage (£28,480 before tax which is a take home pay of roughly £431 a week)…

"MPs are not paid a salary by Westminster, and receive the same party wage as the MLAs."

The rules on registering MPs' interests state that, under the category "employment and earnings", they are required to report any "salaries, fees, and payments in kind" and "gifts received in recognition of services performed".

This applies to money and gifts "received as a director or employee or earned in any other capacity".

However, the rules also state that "members should not register under this category earnings received as a member, minister or select committee chair in the UK Parliament".

They also go on to say that MPs should declare any substantial donations, including "support received by his or her constituency party organisation, or which he or she receives via a central party organisation".

On the question of where all this leaves Sinn Fein MP, the office of the Commissioner for Standards has insisted, in reply to Ms Forsythe, that "the salaries paid by Sinn Féin do not require registration".

The commissioner's office was asked to explain – in reference to its rules – why this is so.

It did not do so, saying that “the commissioner does not intend to review this matter further”.

Meanwhile Sinn Fein was asked this week if it could say what its current payment arrangements are for MPs, such as how much they get.

It did not address this specific point, but said: “As the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has made clear, Sinn Féin MPs are fully compliant with the Register of Interests at Westminster and all relevant interests are declared in line with the rules."