Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“Later today the Assembly will debate a motion calling for Gerry Kelly to be suspended for five days after the Standards Commissioner found that he had breached the MLA Code of Conduct by clinging to the bonnet of a PSNI land rover at last year’s Tour of the North parade.
“However, we already know that the debate will be a sham because a Petition of Concern has been lodged which means that even if a majority of MLAs vote to exclude Kelly it will fall.
“Petitions of Concern are a perverse instrument which are unknown to anywhere in the democratic world.
“The use of one today demonstrates that Sinn Fein don’t just get special treatment from the PSNI – we all know would have happened a Loyalist if they had decided to obstruct police officers in the course of their duties – but they also get it at Stormont.
“Shame on those spineless SDLP MLAs – Pat Ramsey and Dolores Kelly – who have ridden to the rescue of Bonnet Kelly in order to frustrate the democratic will of the Assembly and shame on those Unionists who continue to operate this perverse system.”