Fine is ‘murder tax’

DUP leader Ian Paisley poured scorn on the idea of financial penalties for parties linked to paramilitarism, calling it a “murder tax”.

He asked: “Can you take sanctions against terrorists by bringing in a murder tax? That’s exactly what you are trying to do ... I don’t think it is appropriate at all.

“If a man has murdered, do you tell the people weeping ‘oh aye, but the money we already hand out we are taking back from them’? What sort of nonsense is that? Are we playing soullessly with innocent people?