Anger over move to admit Sinn Fein MPs

The Government triggered an angry reaction from the Tories and Ulster Unionists yesterday when it announced plans to give Sinn Fein MPs office space and other facilities at Westminster.

Downing Street made clear that the proposals, which will be set out in a motion before the Commons next week, were aimed at strengthening the peace process.

Opposition MPs attacked the move because the four Sinn Fein MPs refuse to take their seats at Westminster, which would entail an oath of allegiance to the Queen. Peter Lilley, a former Tory deputy leader, claimed Martin McGuinness, MP for Mid Ulster, had ordered 12 police informers to be murdered in the early 1970s. Mr Lilley, who used parliamentary privilege to name Mr McGuinness as the IRA commandant for Londonderry, called for the Commons to be told about the four MPs' "terrorist activities".

Mr Lilley said he had interviewed Mr McGuinness for a Bow Group pamphlet at the time, "during the course of which interview he told me he had had a dozen Catholic informers killed".

Mr Lilley continued: "If he indeed has put that bloody past behind him and now believes change should only come about in the constitution by operating within the constitution, is not the appropriate test that he takes the oath?" he asked.

Eric Forth, the shadow Leader of the Commons, asked whether Sinn Fein MPs would have to reveal in security forms whether they had been involved in terrorism and sabotage.

Robin Cook, the Leader of the House, countered that the proposals constituted "a modest step" towards normalising the status of the Sinn Fein MPs and granting their constituents similar rights to those of other MPs. Mr Cook pointed out that Mr McGuinness was the Education Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly where he played a "full part" in the government of the province.

"I do think it is wrong for us to say that is all right for the people of Northern Ireland but we will not allow him anywhere within Westminster," he said. No progress would be made in the peace process without accepting that these people had "played a part" in achieving a period of peace and stability. Mr Cook said the Commons would debate a government motion on the issue on Tuesday. MPs could overturn a decision by Baroness Boothroyd when she was Speaker to bar Sinn Fein MPs from parliamentary premises. The motion would be subjected to a one-line whip, with the 140-strong government payroll expected to vote for the plan, although backbenchers would have a free vote.

The Speaker of the Commons, Michael Martin, recently reiterated the long-standing policy that MPs would only be granted offices after they had taken the oath. But after negotiations at the Weston Park peace talks in Staffordshire earlier this year, and further discussions involving Downing Street and the Northern Ireland Office, the issue has moved on. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Tony Blair was firmly behind the move. "The Government believes this is the right time," he said.