In Saturday’s Irish News, Newton Emerson with some impertinent points about electoral pacts in the forthcoming General Election on June 8. From the Irish News Sinn Féin has ordered the SDLP to stand down, although sadly not to dump arms, in North Belfast and Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Let nobody call this a nationalist pact, as that would involve reciprocation and Sinn Féin has not offered to stand down anywhere. Sinn Féin’s stance is doubly impressive when it risks handing …
In 2015 there were numerous news stories and debates about the possibility of Sinn Féin ending its abstentionist policy partly fuelled by a belief that the election might produce a hung parliament. This time around the airing of those arguments have lessened significantly. The polls predict a Tory majority. However the SDLP believe its still a republican weak spot to target every time a Westminster election is called. An area that puts clear blue water between the two parties. In …
Alliance Party (18 candidates) East Antrim – Stewart Dickson East Belfast – Naomi Long East Londonderry – Chris McCaw Fermanagh and South Tyrone – Noreen Campbell Foyle – John Doherty Lagan Valley – Aaron McIntyre Mid Ulster – Fay Watson Newry and Armagh – Jackie Coade North Antrim – Patricia O’Lynn North Belfast – Sam Nelson North Down – Andrew Muir South Antrim – Neil Kelly South Belfast – Paula Bradshaw South Down – Andrew McMurray Strangford – Kellie Armstrong …
There obviously won’t be any pact between the SDLP and Sinn Féin anytime soon and the latest comments from Michelle O’Neill and Colum Eastwood reaffirm their party positions. Eastwood is keeping one eye to the unionist voters in Foyle and especially South Down that will be considering voting strategically for his party to keep Sinn Féin out. A pact with republicans may scare the horses. No pact is good news for the SDLP in South Down and Foyle, less so …
The Sinn Fein Leader in the North, Michelle O’Neill has made a proposal towards the SDLP that is almost certain to be rejected. I am calling therefore on the SDLP to give a clear run to John Finucane and Michelle Gildernew as the only credible anti-Brexit, pro equality and pro-rights candidates in North Belfast and Fermanagh South Tyrone.” O’Neill is asking for the SDLP to stand aside in North Belfast and Fermanagh/South Tyrone. In both the SDLP have little chance …
Chris had a piece up this morning about whether a Nationalist/Remain understanding was still possible for the upcoming elections. Following on from his post I contacted the SDLP to see if the party were going to stand in the various constituencies across the North and the response I received from a party spokesman is below; The SDLP sought to bring together a broad coalition of parties and candidates to maximise the pro-Europe mandate in Northern Ireland. When it was clear …
Former Sinn Fein Vice President and MP for West Tyrone since 2001, Pat Doherty has announced he will not seek re-election. His successor will be local MLA, Barry McElduff, who will be defending a majority of 10,060 votes that the party achieved at the 2015 election. So far the confirmed candidates are, Daniel McCrossan of the SDLP and Alicia Clarke of the UUP. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him …
In today’s Tyrone Herald, Ryan McAleer reports that another SDLP Councillor has resigned from the party in Cookstown. McAleer reports that Tony Quinn from Cookstown has left the party as he finds the party political process to be “self-seeking.” Quinn is the 4th SDLP Councillor to quit in the past 12 months and brings the party’s representation on Mid-Ulster District Council to 5. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow …
The short lived attempt to build a Pro-Remain coalition of sorts has now ended with the Greens pulling the plug and the failure of the other parties to agree on independent candidates. Alliance who were out of the traps early opposing the pact delivered an unusually strong criticism towards the Green Party over even entertaining such a prospect. Initial Thoughts I was a supporter of some arrangement that brought together Pro-Remain forces in some shape or form. This would have …
The wheels have finally come off the wagon for a pact between the pro-Remain forces as the Green Party Leader, Steven Agnew has said his party will not be joining any pact with any other parties. The North Down MLA said: “The Green Party will not enter into a pact for the forthcoming Westminster election. “The decision has followed discussion amongst party members and our party Executive. We also met with the SDLP, Sinn Fein and the UUP as parties …
Sinn Fein continue to throw every last stick of furniture at the wall in order to keep attention. Declan Kearney had this to say about the DUP and the British Government: …both want the political institutions back up again, of course; but they don’t want to have to tackle institutionalised bigotry, sectarianism or intolerance within the North. In recent weeks they and others have been maliciously saying publicly and privately, that in the absence of Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin does not …
This could be a watershed election, in the local context it could be the most important at a Westminster level since 1918. Northern Ireland holds just 18 out of 650 MPs and even in a hung parliament environment it can be difficult to get gain traction. What we lack in voting power, we have a potential to make up for in a strong signal being sent by the wider electorate. The dynamics of the race here are actually relatively simple, …
Chris had an excellent post up today about the possibility of having a Pro Remain Alliance for the upcoming election. At Stormont today, the SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood had some very interesting comments which are worth noting We don’t do sectarian pacts between two parties to keep out one community. We’re open to any discussion about how we can protect the remain vote in Northern Ireland, about how we can fight against the anti-Europe MPs and how we can protect …
Now that the starting gun has been fired by the PM, what are some of the key races to pay attention to locally. There are quite a few and as this is Northern Ireland the health warning comes with the importance of the right candidates being selected to stand in the right constituencies. North Belfast Currently held by DUP Deputy Leader, Nigel Dodds Majority; 5,326 (Note this was with UUP and other Unionist parties out of the race). Dodds has …
From the BBC On Monday night, the three Belfast City Council members abstained on a vote condemning harassment and intimidation of people outside the facilities. It is understood Pat Convery, Kate Mullan and Declan Boyle have been suspended for an indefinite period. The SDLP had seven members on Belfast City Council but now it has only four. Mr Convery, a former lord mayor of Belfast, will be replaced as SDLP group leader, and Kate Mullan will be replaced as deputy …
Only the most basic information has emerged so far out of the set piece statements from the parties. Arlene Foster’s offer of a return to the Executive “without pre-conditions” and do sensible things like passing the budget was never going to be enough to draw in Sinn Fein, whose whole position was all about setting conditions. If she was ever going to give satisfaction on matching Sinn Fein’s unmanageably long list of demands, why not give some specific declarations of …
Former BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London
The increase in the Nationalist vote at last week’s Assembly Election came as a surprise to many commentators. However, it is worth bearing in mind that support for the SDLP and Sinn Féin amongst the Catholic population of Northern Ireland was at a historic low in 2016, and therefore the increase in the Nationalist vote was starting from a low base. After last year’s Assembly election, I wrote about how the support for the SDLP and Sinn Féin amongst Northern …
In the Irish Times Newton Emerson takes issue with two of the talking points being promoted by the SDLP and Sinn Féin – EU ‘special status’ for Northern Ireland and ‘joint authority’. From the Irish Times Northern nationalism has an alternative to Brexit – special status for the North within the EU. Nobody has a clue what this means but at least Brussels has been asked if it will consider the possibility (it has said no). Northern nationalism also has …
So how did the SDLP do? They had few opportunities to make themselves heard through the gales of outrage which sustained an often extremely petty two party media scrap throughout the campaign. And they had to fight it on a tiny campaign budget. At best, I thought they could win eleven seats, or as few as nine. Whilst they did lose two sitting MLAs (West Belfast and FST) both had an uptick in vote share of 1.3%, and they picked up …
