Opposition option ‘on the table’ for SDLP after NI election 

Colum Eastwood defended his record as leader and said that while the nationalist party he leads wants to be in a reformed Executive after May 5, going into opposition remains an option

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood during the Social Democrat and Labour Party (SDLP) spring conference. (Liam McBurney/PA)

The SDLP has not ruled out going into opposition after the upcoming Assembly election, the party’s leader has said.

Colum Eastwood defended his record as leader on Sunday and said that while the nationalist party he leads wants to be in a reformed Executive after May 5, going into opposition remains an option.

“Of course, that option is on the table. But the point is we don’t want to take that option. We want to be in government,” Mr Eastwood said.

The Foyle MP was speaking after he used his party’s spring conference this week to slam the record of the DUP and Sinn Féin in the Stormont Executive.

Colum Eastwood was quizzed about his party’s relationship with Fianna Fail (Niall Carson/PA)

He told the BBC on Sunday that the Northern Ireland Protocol, opposition to which led the DUP to pull out of the Executive earlier this year, was not a priority for most voters.

“When I speak to people – and we’ve been knocking doors for months and I think we’re very plugged into the community – what people are telling me is that they’re absolutely petrified about the rising costs of fuel, food.

“They can’t even heat their homes," he continued.

These are people who are out working every single day, have no ability to heat their homes, are worried about the food on the table for their children.

But Mr Eastwood was also quizzed about his own leadership since 2015, during which time the party has failed to fully revive its electoral fortunes.

Polls do not suggest any major boost in support for the party ahead of the election in a little over a month’s time.

He pointed to the successes of his leadership, including returning two MPs to Westminster in the 2019 general election with sizeable majorities.

“I think any objective analysis shows the SDLP has stabilised on the leadership and will grow again in this election.

“I don’t frankly care what a poll says. I only care what elections say because whatever you might think, whatever I might think, in that election you’ll have one vote, I’ll have one vote and everybody else will have one vote.”

“People watching this TV programme aren’t interested in how many votes somebody got in 1998.”

“What I want to talk about is people and the concerns that people have.”

Mr Eastwood was also asked about his party’s relationship with Fianna Fáil and the current status of a partnership agreement agreed between the two parties in 2019.

This has been a policy partnership that has been about trying to change people’s lives. 

"And let me give you the evidence of what has happened as a result of that. There’s 1 billion euro in a bank account in Dublin to be spent by the Shared Island Unit.

“That was done as a result of the conversations I had with Micheál Martin. And if that is the result of that partnership, I’d be pretty happy.”

But Mr Eastwood insisted that while his party has a “strong” relationship with Fianna Fáil, it also benefits from support from across the political divide.

“We have a particular relationship with Fianna Fáil. And for us, as I said at the time, and if you want to go back and watch it, never mind what commentators said or what leaks said, what I said at the time is about changing people’s lives.

“And if you want to look at what we’ve done, 1 billion euros in a bank account to be spent on cross-border projects, that’s a pretty big legacy of any project.”