Hanna’s SDLP targets the Centre Ground and the Alliance Party

The former giants of northern politics have not had a good time of it in recent years. Once the dominant parties in Unionism and Nationalism, the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP have increasingly been pushed to the margins of relevance. At the last Assembly elections in 2022 both parties fell backwards, shedding seats and voters alike. It was particularly catastrophic for the SDLP, which lost 4 of their seats. In the aftermath, the usual conversations began about where these two parties would go. The UUP decided to ultimately re-enter the Stormont Executive in spite of the opinion of its then leader and to then jettison the leader. A steady as she goes approach.

The SDLP on the other hand has tried a different tack. Excluded from the D’hondt process because of their poor showing, the SDLP decided to enter opposition and has attempted to hold the Executive to account. We have had a memorable spat (as reported in the ‘Evening Standard’) in recent days as SDLP opposition leader Matthew O’Toole has accused Education Minister Paul Givan of using AI to help write his speeches…

“Stormont Education Minister Paul Givan has clashed again with Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole over an accusation that a speech was partly written by artificial intelligence. Mr Givan called on the SDLP MLA to apologise and withdraw the “false allegation” from earlier this month. But in response, Mr O’Toole said he would not back down, stating the Education Minister had not been “definitive” about whether AI had been used to edit any statement he had made in the Assembly.”

But taking on the DUP isn’t going to win votes for the SDLP, the parties fish in very different pools. Nor does it seem they are prioritising winning back voters from Sinn Féin, which some may take as a tacit admission they can no longer compete with that party. Instead it appears the SDLP has decided to move decisively towards the centre and to take aim at the Alliance Party. In this (paywalled) interview with Suzanne Breen at the ‘Belfast Telegraph’, SDLP leader Claire Hanna had the following to say about the Alliance party…

“Alliance ran a far better election campaign than we did in 2022, and we lost votes to them,” the SDLP leader said. “They went up from eight Assembly seats to 17…If my party doubled its MLA team, then I’d like to think we’d deliver more than they have…That Alliance result was the most seismic change in Northern Ireland politics in a decade. What difference has it made in atmosphere or outcomes at Stormont? None whatsoever…Alliance are living their best lives, yet I don’t see them using the power they have to make positive changes in Northern Ireland and to improve people’s lives.”

Strong stuff. And it got stronger as she culminated with her pitch to the constitutional undecideds…

“The SDLP is ambitious enough to try to create a long-term path to something better in terms of a new Ireland. A functional Stormont is the limit of Alliance’s ambition, and that’s very much not the case for us..”

Naomi Long responded by saying that the ‘Old Parties’ were ‘rattled by the strength of the Alliance Party’ and appears ready for the fight from the SDLP. She may have good reason for her confidence, even if the party’s star is a little less bright than it was three years ago. Whilst it seems the SDLP has decided to argue to the middle that the constitutional status quo that the Alliance Party is agnostic on is of no use, and is prepared to argue that a united Ireland is a much better path forwards, it is worth remembering the fate of NI21. The self-describing liberal Unionist party thought it too could make a pitch for the centre whilst holding fast to its constitutional preferences. While we don’t think anyone expects the SDLP to implode quite so spectacularly, taking on THE party of the middle ground maybe a tall task for the SDLP.

Slugger Team

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