Police quiz councillor on Paisley petition

Ian Paisley MP failed to declare two luxury holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government

Police have interviewed a TUV councillor over a social media post he made about DUP MP Ian Paisley's recent recall petition in North Antrim.

Timothy Gaston voluntarily attended Ballymena PSNI station on Monday.

Mr Gaston said he amended the post once it was drawn to his attention by the Chief Electoral Officer Virginia McVea.

The petition was triggered after Mr Paisley was suspended having failed to declare two holidays paid for by Sri Lanka's government and lobbying for it.

• Paisley 'humbled' to keep seat

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• Who are the DUP?

The petition was the first in UK parliamentary history, and needed 7,543 signatures - or 10% of Mr Paisley's constituents - to force a by-election and cause the MP to lose his seat.

It was signed by 7,099 people, which Mr Paisley said was evidence people "accepted" his apology.

"90.6% said: we are keeping you, big fella, we like you," he said.

His suspension as an MP was for 30 working days from Monday 4 September.

He was also temporarily suspended from the DUP but readmitted on 20 September following an internal investigation, although he has been banned from holding office in the party for 12 months.

What is a recall petition?

This is a fairly recent addition to politics, becoming law under the Recall of MPs Act which came into effect in 2016.

It states that MPs who are convicted of a criminal offence and jailed, convicted of providing false information on allowance claims or barred from the House of Commons for 10 sitting days or longer can lose their seat if there is a successful petition to recall them.

It is against the regulations of the act to forecast the result.

During the campaign a Sinn Féin MLA said the Electoral Office advised him to delete a social media post about the petition.

After Phillip McGuigan posted a video on Twitter, he said he was contacted by the chief electoral officer warning him the police could be asked to investigate the post urging people to sign the petition.

"Given that the request was made, I complied," said Mr McGuigan.

"But I still find it bizarre that the Electoral Office is focusing on social media posts when their handling of the entire petition process has been so poor.

"I find it incredible I am being warned about police investigations when I do not believe there was anything in the post that predicted the outcome of the petition.

"If that is the case, are the bookmakers taking bets or the political pundits offering opinions also going to receive similar calls?"

Chief Electoral Officer Virginia McVea told the BBC: "Complaints came in. I phoned to advise him of the law.

"I explained I did not prosecute - it was a matter for the PSNI - but it would be better to take it down."