The state of the SDLP is leading to a crisis in Nationalism
I think Mark, in common with others, has underrated the Sinn Fein performance in the North. Brian lamented parties playing up the significance of topping the pole, but seemed miss that whatever Chris or commentators here might have posted, the SF leadership assuredly did not do it. They also largely resisted the temptation to cause difficulties for their coalition partners or expend large amount of resources in pushing their vote as high as possible in a vanity project. It was notable that there was no SF presence at our polling station as there has been at every other election we have been to. Furthermore, they continued to play down the significance once the election results were in. It was a mature and businesslike performance by a party assured of their position. Talk of stagnant votes is utterly misleading; like the best football teams, it is clear there was another gear if needed. The SDLP weren’t even relevant.With the split in the Unionist vote, there was a definite chance of the SDLP picking up a second Nationalist seat. The SDLP ran a decent candidate and a competent but unspectacular campaign and still could not manage more than complete stasis. This is troubling for a number of reasons.
Fortunes can and do change and even seemingly invincible parties can lose status pretty quickly; the DUP are a telling case in point but Labour were also flippantly talking about further decades in power after the last election. But SF have received some fairly hefty hits from the DUP in this Assembly and at least one really bad minister and have just kept on going. It is really looking like SF might fill the role that FF have traditionally done in the South. That gives them almost total leadership of Northern nationalism / republicanism and in a real sense the SF vision of a United Ireland will be the one imprinted on Northern nationalism, sold to unionists and shown to the outside world. I am sympathetic to many of SF aims but differ in many places and despite being listed as a “politico” on this site I have no connection to anyone. And that role is too important for any one party. A diverse state needs a diverse civic nationalism and a diverse range of views. Single party dominance leads to stagnation and suffocates ideas; no single party has the energy or vision to sustain the growth needed indefinitely. The Unionist attraction to the Single Voice has always baffled me. Mick sees danger in the current Unionist jostling, but that dynamism will drive debate that may not help the individual parties, but will certainly help Unionism.
It will also help drive Unionist votes. It already has to an extent; the Unionist drop in turnout was slightly noticeably less than the nationalist one. The SDLP have held on, but there is the frightening prospect of a collapse in their vote. Take the results of the Fermanagh Council By Election last year.
Foster, Arlene (DUP) 1,925 votes (30,5%)
Coyle, Debbie (SF) 1,815 votes (28,8%)
Johnston, Basil (UUP) 1,436 votes (22,8%)
Flanagan, Rosemary (SDLP) 739 votes (11,7%)
Kamble, Kumar (APNI) 231 votes (3,7%)
McHugh, Karen (Ind Rep) 158 votes (2,5%)
It seemed to me overlooked at the time that Sinn Fein got their vote out. But the SDLP’s didn’t turn up. They had little hope of winning, so didn’t bother. And without their support Nationalism had absolutely no hope of winning the seat. If this is a vision of the future, even a partial one, big big problems lie further down the road. If those results are repeated on any scale, there will be a full blown electoral crisis in Nationalism to match the crisis in ideas such a situation would bring.
I know in posting this that I will get a chorus of people lining up to back the SDLP: it happened the last time I posted on them. They manage to hold their vote and stave off further decline; the chances of getting a seat where remote; they have lots of good ideas; X will do will in this constituency; SF have stagnated, will run into difficulties and the scales will fall from the electorates eyes. I am sorry but this is simply superficial congeniality. And it is long past time to start facing reality.
The first thing is to accept that continuing on the same path will not lead to a changed result. People in the party have got to start saying it out loud and flagging a desire to change. To at least start a debate. They then need to work out who they are, and what they are for, and what electorate they are going for. Are they serious about post nationalism? Those pull in differing directions. Can they do the vision thing? Come up with new policies? These are fundamental questions but the SDLP seemingly have no answer to many of them and that is not a luxury that can afforded in a downward spiral. To make any gains forward within nationalism, they don’t just have to match SF, they have to significantly better them to make traction.
These are big questions and it falls to the leader to set the tone and direction of the party. Durkan has been a long time in the job now. If he cares about his party, his politics and his country, it’s time for him to step up or step aside.
Is it perhaps the case that expenses and SF isn’t really an issue because it can always be spun as “take the Brits for every penny you can”?
26% in the North, 7% in the South. Northern SF voters seem so out-of-kilter with the Southern mindset.
Does a vote for SF in the North advance Irish unification. Or is that not really the point?
Brendan value for money is not the issue here its abuse of money. Its seems that Eddie has a tendancy for 5 star luxury hotels, Marks has a regular laundry bill and still we dont know how much the MP south belfast claimed and i bet it close to the maximum allowed. The issue about expenses that has annoyed the general public is that these people get a very good salary and they claim anything that they can get away with on expenses. You may argue thats the rules but then were does morals and antegrity come into it. I earn a wage pay taxes and would you believe it pay my bill, pay for my luxuries and even my bogroll. Why are our MPs any different.
On a wider issue the SDLP campaign was weak and twee to say the least “when we win you win” and give “sinn fein and the dup a yellow card” so now thats its over has the sdlp got the yellow card or if we take durkan’s record maybe it a red and probably long over due.
Sinn Fein had a large eye south and still managed to outpoll the sdlp by a margin of almost 50k. If this was supposed to be a midterm then the difficulty for the sdlp is that the nationalist republican electorate do not take them seriously and their leadership is now over 8 years in the job with no evidence of making an impact. The elephant won’t go away.
A question Mick Fealty has constantly asked for along time is “What’s the point of the UUP?”. Similar questions could be posed of the SDLP-
Why do you exist?
What do you offer that SF doesn’t?
Have you any chance whatsoever of moving beyond your communal comfort-zone?
Intellectually I think there is (potentially) much more talent in the SDLP than SF but rather than build a space for themselves in developing a more civic and inclusive nationalist narrative (a la the SNP in Scotland) they still try to keep pushing back into the communal which is now and for a long time to come 100% SF territory.
“moving beyond your communal comfort-zone”
are you suggesting there might actually be a strategy which would seem more relevant to nationalists than SF’s and at the same time win over a few prods from unionism (or at least enough to more than replace any votes lost to other parties)?
How about good old fashioned christian socialism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_socialism#Prominent_Christian_socialists
The expenses row may hurt the SDLP more, than it could ever damage SF. I believe their first reaction was to say that they had no intention of publishing the expenses, and that they would wait for the commons publication. In my area a lot of soft nationalists went with SF this time, because, they fail to see the relevance of the SDLP anymore. In a climate where self serving MP’s are under the spotlight, the SDLP did not clearly articulate a policy of transparency concerning expenses. It rather huffed and puffed through the issue, without bringing any clarity. Like it or not, but MP’s and their families benefiting personally from the expenses of the taxpayer just turns the voter away. While SF may take the expenses in westminister, it appears that they redistribute the expenses/salaries, etc, to increase constituency services, and i think that says a lot more about the reasons why they are in politics than most. For goodness sake, Alistair McDonnell still works as a part time GP, as well as being a landlord of student housing (thats another story!!), as well as being an MP, and a MLA! Mark Durkan really has failed in a leadership role, and it seems that he is a hostage to the fiefdoms of McGrady and McDonnell. It certainly is time for a rethink of leadership, and root and branch reform of the top tier of the party.
gav
26% in the North, 7% in the South. Northern SF voters seem so out-of-kilter with the Southern mindset.
Does a vote for SF in the North advance Irish unification. Or is that not really the point?
Splendid comparison. No wait, it’s an utterly stupid one because Northern voters don’t have the same set of choices. For the love of god, try harder, would you?
Hello,
I don’t think its fair to suggest that the expenses scandal should be any different for the SDLP than any of the other offenders – I don’t think anyone comes out of it looking particularly well, Sinn Fein included. It has clearly tarnished many a reputation but further to this it has brought disrepute to the industry in its entirety. Sleaze and corruption are nothing new in politics though so I doubt that any clean-up of the system will have any lasting impact. But maybe I am just cynical.
As for the relevance of the SDLP, I think it needs to be acknowledged that Sinn Fein has effectively encroached upon traditional SDLP territory with the abandonment of the dual mandate, and have forced the SDLP to the periphery. The party is lacking the necessary confidence to effectively connect with the electorate and convince them of their political relevance. Sinn Fein’s impressive PR and media machine can often make the stoops look comparatively lack-lustre, and I think that there have been quite a few missed opportunities to capitalise on other parties’ mistakes. However I think that the way in which Alban’s campaign was ran (on the ground anyway) was promising, and the party are determined to remain at the centre of Northern Ireland politics, the problem remains as to where they can fit to remain electable to Nationalists whilst continuing with their post-sectarian and progressive brand of politics.
whilst continuing with their post-sectarian and progressive brand of politics.
Posted by Katherine on Jun 09, 2009 @ 03:41 PM
I hardly think the “we can get 2 nationalists elected” line, is either progressive or anti-sectarian.
“I hardly think the “we can get 2 nationalists elected” line, is either progressive or anti-sectarian.”
Unless of course, as a true socialist (like Alban), you really do believe that the final emancipation of the Irish Catholic/Nationalist, as the lowest class in Irish society, cannot help but emancipate all other classes, and that the reunification of Ireland is neccessary to finally securing emancipation by democratic means.
Poor Big Bird obviously hasn’t checked his facts. Durkan has said that he booked a room for single use, got a double room which he alone used and then advised the Fees Office not to pay for 2 occupants. Look at the original Daily Telegraph and BBC reports on his expenses.
Which proves another point – your claim that he was somehow trying to avoid media coverage when (a) he already had his expenses scrutinised by the media and obviously satisfied their bloodthurst with the reasonableness of his claims and (b) he didn’t have to post these details at all. The overriding point is you only have these details because Durkan put them on his site then sent out a twitter message to say he had done it. And all 2 days before an election which hardly suggests a man trying to hide skeletons.
Finally, both McDonnell and McGrady had expenses already scrutinised before the election. McGrady’s were on Newsline on tuesday last for God’s sake! The Irish News and others also covered those.
The real question is why the media accept Sinn Fein claims to have published their expenses when all they have done is issue totals for categories. Ditto why haven’t all other MPs put their expenses online?
Finally, there is no mention of any claim for toilet roll. Toiletries could well have been some soap and you’d hardly begrude him that considering the dirty hands he was having to shake in London in 2005!
Northsider
Just a point. At the last Westminster election SF claimed to have won Foyle. They didn’t of course. SF claim a lot of things.
The word in Derry political circles is that Sinn Fein only had one tallyman looking at the Foyle boxes. The SDLP had four. Anyone who claims to have an accurate tally with one tallyman is having a laugh. Or engaging in headline-chasing nonsense with no substance to it. “Stand Up for Derry” anyone? “Stand Up for the Camera” would be more like it!
I think that there are many challenges that the SDLP must overcome but there are also many opportunities.
SDLP narrowly gained against SF in this election, but given the dismal performance of SF over the last number of years the SDLP should be disappointed that they did not make any significant gains. Decent candidate + decent campaign + poor performance of the DUP-SF = a slim gain, is not a very productive result.
The challenges of organisation and presence in towns, villages, etc across the north must be addressed if the SDLP want to get serious about winning elections. “Winning” being the key word hear because it seems that there are many in the SDLP that are happy to be also-rans. That mindset needs to change, people in the SDLP need to start objecting to defeat and try something new. In many of these areas SF are the only party present and the SDLP needs to meet them head on.
The challenge of what exactly the SDLP stands for needs to be addressed. They can’t compete with SF in certain ideological areas but drastically need to address in what areas they can. The fact that they are a partitionist party by nature, by their organisation in only the 6 counties, who claim to want a united Ireland is of course a paradox. They need to sort that issue out as being pat of an all-ireland party is the only way forward for them. 6 county nationalism is dead and there simply is not enough electoral space for it anymore.
At the moment the SDLP are a somewhat rudderless ship with a captain who would rather sit below deck than get above deck to steer the ship through and in the face of stormy seas. They have a leader who can not lead. Slight problem?
Opportunities however exist for the SDLP. The RPA should allow them to complete a total and much needed overhaul of their local government organistion. This could help the SDLP get rid of its dead wood. But they seriously need to redine themselves in a world and existence that is completely different than that into which they were born.
The SDLP should also pull out of the Executive at Stormont. They can not complain that the Executive is controlled unfairly by DUP-SF and then continue to take part. That is simply absurd. SDLP need to pull out of the Executive and stand as a credible alternative, whilst campaigning for a more just and inclusive power-sharing arrangement. Because at the moment power-sharing is not equitible and is simply not working at all under the current St Andrews arrangements.
Wastage. And at under 50% turnout, the SDLP had a lot of scope for a decent differential turnout pushing them over the top and pulling the rug from under Unionism. It was at least a possibility before the vote. It was discuussed here.
It sounds like one of those “assuming a frictionless surface” things. An enthusiastic and vigorous SDLP campaign to get the required ~10-15000 votes in this case would see a response in kind from the unionists.
Not that I would have a massive problem with two nationalists, I’d take Alban over any of the motley shower of unionists any day of the week.
Foyle Sinn Féin MLA Martina Anderson has claimed that Sinn Féin outpolled the SDLP in Derry for the first time ever in the European elections.
Ms Anderson made the claim from the count centre at the Kings Hall in Belfast as Sinn Féin’s Bairbre de Brún was elected on the first count – topping the poll. It is the first time a non-DUP candidate has done so. Overall, however, the Sinn Féin vote is actually down 0.3 per cent on the last European election. Ms de Brún received 126,184 first preference votes, 26 per cent of the total votes cast.
Sinn Fein, especially Martina Anderson, have been running this line for the past 10-15 years at least, and they’ve failed every time when it came to beating Durkan. As such her claims should be taken with a large pinch of salt.
Note also that the SF vote fell very slightly compared with 2004 whereas the SDLP’s increased. Coupled with the bad result in the RoI, I think this should be a time for Sinn Fein supporters to reflect on what may be the beginning of a long, slow decline.
CS
Note also that the SF vote fell very slightly compared with 2004 whereas the SDLP’s increased. Coupled with the bad result in the RoI, I think this should be a time for Sinn Fein supporters to reflect on what may be the beginning of a long, slow decline.
A what – 0.3% decline on a reduced turnout is statistically insignificant. And they did it with any kind of major push. This is a painfully embarrassing argument. The result in the South was poor, given the circumstances, but the vote essentially held steady.
That does not on any planet translate into “long slow decline”. And long is a long time in politics; presumably there is enough time to turn it about. This is wishful thinking and fantasy. Come back when you have some actual proper evidence.
Kensei > despite your protests, on the contrary, it seems that you are pushing a wholly political agenda.
SF vote did go down. Fact. SDLP vote did go up. Fact. Does this represent the decline of SF. Not necessarily. Does this represent the revival of the SDLP. Not necessarily.
The political environment, with the expenses scandal, for this election was an exceptional variable and it has be noted that this environment contributed to the overall result.
The real rest for both SF and SDLP will be the next round of elections, be they national or regional. Then we can start to talk about political obituaries.
Some southern posters are talking of Sinn Fein missing the boat. That’s how it looks from Derry too. Too much time has elapsed now in Sinn Fein’s struggle for political credibility in the South. They have missed the boat. When they had the chance in the 1990’s, they blew it by seeming to begrudgingly give us peace, decommisissing, and an end to killings like Robert McCartney’s and Paul Quinn’s.
Many of the things that kept Sinn Fein strong in the North killed them off in the Republic like playing politics with decommissioning. They were cute hoors up here but down there they were suspected of being an evil conspiracy.
So it’s too late for them now. It’s all over in the south, and it won’t be long before things start to go pear shaped in the North. They’re just about hanging together at Stormont as it stands. Wait to see what happens when Gerry Adams loosens his grip on the party as he has to do now.
A what – 0.3% decline on a reduced turnout is statistically insignificant. And they did it with any kind of major push. This is a painfully embarrassing argument. The result in the South was poor, given the circumstances, but the vote essentially held steady.
I’m not trying to push any particular agenda, but the fact is that SF’s vote decreased, however slightly. I agree that it would be wrong to reach any real conclusions, hence the use of the word may in reference to the potential for decline. And frankly, the deputy leader losing the party’s only seat in what should be a core constituency should be causing alarm bells to ring. You can’t say this is anything other than a serious setback to the notion of SF as an all-Ireland party, and this misdirection about the Stoops looks like an attempt to distract people from that.
That does not on any planet translate into “long slow decline”. And long is a long time in politics; presumably there is enough time to turn it about. This is wishful thinking and fantasy. Come back when you have some actual proper evidence.
Bit highly strung there.
Re: post 10 above, if anyone wants to know who’s telling the truth between Big Bird and D’arcy McGee about whether the tax-payer had to pay for Mark Durkan to clean his own bum, then just go and check the PDF allowances sheet on http://www.markdurkan.ie for May 2006. (Obviously D’arcy didn’t bother – just lamely taking the line from the party press office.)
Looks like the word ‘toilet roll’ scrawled on the edge of the page to me.
As for the mysterious ‘hotel room for two’, just go and look at the PDF allowance claim for July 2005. The claim submitted by Mark Durkan to the Parliamentary Fees Office was for £945.74, and it was part-supported by an invoice from Mark submitted – and marked “Adults – 2″ – for full bed and breakfast, totalling £352.00 for one double room for two nights. The Fees Office denied the full payment for the hotel bill and would only pay for one person, thereby deducting £176.00 from the claim made by Mark and giving him a total of £769.74.
So never mind how Mark tried to explain it all away with his oh-so-innocent blubbing about him having notified the Fees Office of a silly-billy mistake – which is a story that quite literally doesn’t add up.
(Even if he had done, Mark still walked away with £58,000 of tax-payers money – on top of everything else Big Bird mentioned.)
Just look at the facts folks. D’arcy’s clearly been the ‘twitter’ on this occasion.
Big Bird got it right with the facts, and right about the questions. Why hasn’t Mark been hounded for some of his infamously not-so-straight answers? Then again, has anyone got the bloody energy to listen and work out what he’s actually trying to say?
Isn’t one of Sinn Fein’s problem’s in the South that it does not attract very many people on the single transferrable vote from other parties?
Is its relationships with other political parties in the south an issue?
Eurocat
Kensei > despite your protests, on the contrary, it seems that you are pushing a wholly political agenda.
You are perfectly free to disagree. I simply say it like I see it. I also have done enough Maths in my time to know what is and is not statistically worth mentioning.
CS
I’m not trying to push any particular agenda,
But I will anyway….
but the fact is that SF’s vote decreased, however slightly.
No, it just didn’t in any meaningful sense, any more than 0.3% increase would have made anything meaningful. That could make that up in a recount.
I agree that it would be wrong to reach any real conclusions, hence the use of the word may in reference to the potential for decline. And frankly, the deputy leader losing the party’s only seat in what should be a core constituency should be causing alarm bells to ring. You can’t say this is anything other than a serious setback to the notion of SF as an all-Ireland party, and this misdirection about the Stoops looks like an attempt to distract people from that.
There are big problems in Dublin some of which were inevitable, I think. But they walked in with 54 council seats and walked out with 53, when you take out the defection. The PDs had 25 in 1999. The Greens, currently in government have 3. Yes, that is 3. SF have issues, but they are likely to be about for quite sometime, maybe a bit bigger, maybe a bit smaller based on circumstance. Small parties can implode in the South. I can’t see how that is projected from a flat line, other than wishful thinking.
Bit highly strung there
If I hear any more bollocks on the inevitability of anything on this site, I think my head will explode.
Comrade
Certainly our tallies seemed to put SF narrowly ahead in Foyle, but two key points here:
1. It was very hard to see the ballots properly; and
2. Durkan, in an X-vote election, would “borrow” some Unionist votes – enough, I suspect, to see him home.
oneill
That’s a highly relevant question. Whatever anyone thinks of Alliance’s “£1 bn wasted on segregation” or the Ulster Unionists’ “UCU project”, they do at least serve to answer the question “What is your party for?”
In my opinion, the SDLP does genuinely need to answer that question, and fast. Its result proves there is still hope, but there’s nothing that bores the activists more than ongoing stagnation.
Kensei
You make a lot of points any serious political party should take on board.
There’s nothing so stupid as to do the same thing to get the same results when the results aren’t very good.
It strikes me some of SF’s problems in the South are similar to the SDLP’s in the North.
Kensei makes the legitimate point that this hardly marks a disaster for SF – and, at least, they didn’t make the mistake of raising expectations. Flat lines can be ok.
Objectively it does strike me, however, that SF has to do something else to stand out from the crowd as the real opposition to the FF/Green calamity government.
No, it just didn’t in any meaningful sense, any more than 0.3% increase would have made anything meaningful. That could make that up in a recount.
So you’ve peaked then ?
I’ll stop ..
.. agree it’s not really appropriate to read much into a European election. Let’s see how we do at Westminster.
IJP
It strikes me some of SF’s problems in the South are similar to the SDLP’s in the North.
Undoubtedly. The context is somewhat different though; the SDLP are the former frontrunners and could have legitimate ambitions to get it back. SF are coming form 0 in the South and won’t be the main party in a coalition, at least not in my lifetime a least. So while they need ot answer many of the same questions, they have to set out their stall a bit differently I think.
Also: SF just didn’t raise expectations. They didn’t turn up the temperature on the election at all. They knew they were getting the seat, had a reasonable chance at topping the poll, why bother when there are tougher battles elsewhere? It’s a mature response that maybe gives some indication they’ve learnt from their experience in the South.
OK folks, up until now I have been wondering if I should comment on thjs thread or not,here goes – Alban is a thoroughly decent man and he worked hard to increase the party vote,with modest success, voter apathy is being fuelled by the idea that politicians are all little piggies with their noses stuck in the trough , and that they are far removed from joe public.SF probably rode this storm better with their “we only get an average wage” spin. I dont know anybody on an average wage who can afford to wear designer suits.
The sdlp has to connect with people in a way that has not been done of late.
The retirement of Hume,Mallon,Rodgers ,Haughey etc
meant that the sdlp lost not just experience,it lost it’s soul.
Durkan says that where the sdlp have led SF follow,this is largely true-so the Shinners are stealing our clothes-imitation is the greatest form of flattery,it is about time that we stopped trying to out green them -that wont work- but it is not too difficult to out smart them in terms of policy,but we need to re-establish our credibility on the streets-otherwise people wont listen.
We need to get back to basics,and our elected reps should be passionate about what they do and why they are doing it.
Politics is a career or service to your community,it is not a ticket for the gravy train or a means to improve your social standing at the golf club.
Attract the right men and women,select them,and people will vote for them -on their record.
Kensei
“You are perfectly free to disagree. I simply say it like I see it. I also have done enough Maths in my time to know what is and is not statistically worth mentioning”.
Well then you must be very selective with your choice of statistics. Why not use the 2007 assembly elections statistics when the SDLP outpolled the UUP in 1st preference votes? Hardly a disaster for nationalism now. If the SDLP had played their vote management game a bit better then they could have had an extra assembly seat or two and thus a second ministry.
IJP
“There’s nothing so stupid as to do the same thing to get the same results when the results aren’t very good”.
Well I would suppose your party has a particular expertise in that area
Euro
Well then you must be very selective with your choice of statistics. Why not use the 2007 assembly elections statistics when the SDLP outpolled the UUP in 1st preference votes? Hardly a disaster for nationalism now. If the SDLP had played their vote management game a bit better then they could have had an extra assembly seat or two and thus a second ministry.
You are not seriously comparing anything with the UUP of 2007 as some kind of victory, are you? Good grief.
And yes, if the SDLP weren’t so bloody incompetent Nationalism could have had another seat, possibly two. Which probably remains true if they can get their vote out
If the SDLP had played their vote management game a bit better then they could have had an extra assembly seat or two and thus a second ministry.
A little better? Jesus H Christ, people talk about SF spin, have you forgotten West Tyrone already? 3 candidates, 1 quota, 0 seats. That one should leave any self respecting SDLP member with a redner for long, long time to come
“I dont know anybody on an average wage who can afford to wear designer suits.”
“Shinners are stealing our clothes”
Well there you go Danny
But the most telling is
“Durkan says….” “…people wont listen”
alot of people walked away from the SDLP during their ‘post nationalist’ flip flopping
To be honest the party was John Hume, and I think thats evident
Fin – flip flopping- no return to stormont?
Anybody can quote selectively,read what I wrote before you decide to pick out little bits and put them together to make it read what you want it to read.
Animal Farm, 4 legs good ,2 legs Bad,and when the pigs took over and started walking on their hind legs ,they denied they had ever said it,sounds a lot like the provos to me.
PS,Hume never said that the sdlp were post nationalist.He said that Europe was becoming increasingly post nationalist-and,in terms of the relevance of national parliaments it is a no brainer with over 70% of laws coming from Europe. Also Stealing our clothes ,simply means that they are adopting our position on almost everything,I still dont know how anybody on an average wage can afford a designer suit,anyone who cant differentiate these two statements must be thick .
I think it’s shocking that anyone is even talking about the fortunes of the SDLP in Derry or the issue of Marks expenses ,tut tut shame on you all ,do you not know the rules ,no one is allowed to question them ,they are above all that
Gordon Brown appears to be attempting to introduce a single seat PR system for Westminster elections.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8092235.stm
If he is successful, would there be any harm in splintering the nationalist vote by introducing the southern parties to the north?
I imagine they would have some difficulty sitting in the UK parliament, but perhaps that could be done under an SDLP banner (FF-SDLP, FG-SDLP, Lab-SDLP)?
The title of this thread has led us all over the place from their vote to was alban a good candidate to what are they about to durkans leadership but they are facing an even bigger question double jobbing. Its easy for unionist they view Westminster as the highest seat in the land so its a no brainer for the likes of Gregory. But what does Mark, Eddie and Allaisdair do. If the plump for the Assemb;y do they have adequate replacements to hold the Westminster seats. If they go for Westminster are they telling the nationalist community they see Westminster as more important than the Assembly, were does that leave the North South Makes Sense camapaign and the notion that they are republicans. Will they be more effective as a very small player in a massive pool or a larger player in a smaller pool. Big questions.
Eurocrat
Precisely – you need to learn from your mistakes. That’s why the party is now on 5-6% and not 2-3%, but it does mean we have to think about how we approach a Westminster election in which, even when we were at a higher level still, we have never won a seat.