AWOL on the budget
It had been clear for weeks, perhaps months, before Wednesday night's budget vote how the main parties were going to divide. So I paid a bit of extra attention to how the independents behaved. On the TV in the Great Hall we could see the North Down unionist Alan McFarland walking into the lobby with the DUP and Sinn Fein. Later he told me he thought Sammy Wilson had handled the budget sensibly and his critics had yet to put up a viable alternative. Other independents - such as Dawn Purvis - reached a different conclusion.
When the first voting numbers for the UUP amendment came through it was clear 99 MLAs and had cast their votes. On the second SDLP amendment and the main budget vote that figure dropped to 98. The MLA who went temporarily AWOL was the Green Brian Wilson who I watched head into the chamber for the first vote, then head back up the stairs towards his office. Did he think he'd voted on the main division, or simply concluded that the result showed the budget was a "done deal"?
But that still leaves 9 non-voting MLAs. 4 of those would have been the Speaker Willie Hay and his deputies, David McClarty, Francie Molloy and John Dallat, who wouldn't vote as they had each presided over sections of the debate. Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster is in the USA on official business. Social Development Minister Alex Attwood couldn't bring himself to back the budget - as he made clear during the debate - but got off side rather than vote against like his Ulster Unionist counterparts.
So that's 6, which left 3 MLAs who didn't show for perhaps the Assembly's most important vote. Yesterday I started to follow this up and the first call I made was to Sinn Fein's BIlly Leonard. As I reported yesterday the East Londonderry MLA refused to comment on speculation that his absence was due to his suspension by Sinn Fein HQ.
So that's down to 2. I had intended to call Dr Kieran Deeny, to check why the Independent Health Campaigner hadn't cast a vote in a debate in which health spending had been a major source of conflict. But before I picked up the phone our Fermanagh reporter Louise Cullen passed on the confirmation that the West Tyrone MLA won't stand again. It has been rumoured for some time around Stormont that Dr Deeny intended to concentrate on his role as a GP. Will another independent, say Paddy McGowan, pick up the baton, or will the main parties in West Tyrone squeeze the independent vote out?
That leaves one other non-voting MLA, Fermanagh's Gerry McHugh. I tried him yesterday to no avail, and again this morning when his office said he might not be accessible today. So I shall keep you posted if he gets back to me.
I'm 
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