SDLP warns of DUP 'free run at agreement'

Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley will get a free run at Westminster to rewrite the Good Friday Agreement if Sinn Féin gets the election result it is claiming to expect, a nationalist rival claimed today.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan, who was campaigning in Derry today with former party leader John Hume, dismissed Sinn Féin claims that it could become the largest party in the North in terms of the popular vote in the Westminster election as an attempt by their party and the DUP to inflate each other’s votes.

In a reference to Sinn Féin’s refusal to take its seats at Westminster, he insisted: “People recognise a strengthened DUP in the House of Commons, with little or no nationalist representation to counter it, would be a disaster.

“If you go back to the flaws of the Sinn Féin and DUP deal last December, it should not be forgotten that that deal involved the British government bringing forward quite a number of legislative changes to affect the workings of the Agreement.

“If Sinn Féin gets the election result they are talking about, the DUP will have a free run in Westminster.

“The British government draft of the deal is bad enough but could be worse if that’s the case.

“So sensible nationalists and people who care for the Agreement know the importance of a strengthened SDLP in this election.”

Mr Durkan is engaged in a do-or-die battle for Mr Hume’s Foyle seat which Sinn Féin general secretary Mitchel McLaughlin believes he can take.

Sinn Féin has been optimistic about its chances of winning the seat on the basis of canvas returns and is also confident about capturing former SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon’s Newry and Armagh constituency.

Party vice-president Pat Doherty yesterday claimed a strong nationalist turnout on May 5 could see Sinn Féin become the North’s largest political party in terms of vote share.

The West Tyrone Assembly member said: “Having analysed the canvas returns from all 18 constituencies, our assessment is that Sinn Féin can become the largest party in the North, in terms of popular support, at this election.

“If the largest party after this election is both nationalist and pro-Agreement, this will impact significantly on the future of the political process.”

Mr Durkan insisted the SDLP was happy with its campaign and believed it could perform well on a strong turnout on Thursday.

He accused Mr Doherty of playing into the hands of the DUP by arguing Sinn Féin could be the largest party.

“This is just Sinn Féin and the DUP trying to pump each other up,” the Foyle Assembly member said.

“The DUP has been trying to make this an election between Sinn Féin and themselves and both of them are trying to reduce things to two party politics based on them.

“This is the DUP’s game plan. Its deputy leader Peter Robinson has called for it for a number of years because in a two-party set-up, he can declare the Agreement a bust.

“Sinn Féin is playing into his hands.”