Emma DeSouza: The North may need a resurgent SDLP to affect constitutional change
By overhauling its political strategy and messaging, reactivating the New Ireland Commission, and platforming its young, up-and-coming political players, Colum Eastwood's SDLP still has the potential to retread in its historical footsteps as leaders, charting a new Ireland. File photo: Liam McBurney/PA
In 1998, the Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP) had the support of 70% of the nationalist vote, securing it the position of Deputy First Minister in the first post-Good Friday Assembly as it catapulted past Sinn Féin as the largest Nationalist party in the North.
Today, the party has been relegated to the opposition benches, no longer holding enough seats to qualify for a ministerial position in government.
May’s election marked not only the SDLP’s sixth consecutive decline, but resulted in four candidates losing their seats, including the party’s Deputy leader. As momentum continues to grow around constitutional change however, the party of John Hume could well be needed, just as it was in 1998, to chart a way forward – but can it revive itself?
In today’s political landscape the SDLP faces a twin-pronged threat - Sinn Féin has ascended as the dominant nationalist party, but all four of the SDLP’s losses were Alliance party gains. To add salt to the wound, polling last week indicates the SDLP has slumped a further two points - its lowest ever polling figure.
There is a mounting risk that the party is on the brink of a terminal decline, and whilst, at the moment, there may be those within nationalism tenting their fingers at Sinn Féin’s triumph over the SDLP at the polls, the results do not paint a pretty picture for the future of nationalism.
Immediately following May’s election, then-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis beat back talk of a border poll by stating that “we haven't seen a growth in the nationalist vote”.
The loss of the SDLP’s four seats led to a decrease in nationalist representation at the Assembly, and while we do not know for certain which specific prerequisites would need to be met before a Secretary of State would be capable of calling a border poll, it would seem Assembly representation could very well be one of them.
Whilst some may believe the North can be fully represented by a single nationalist party, evidence suggests that the Sinn Féin vote is maxed out, with its seat numbers plateauing; Moderate voters in support of a united Ireland, who otherwise may have defaulted to the SDLP, would appear to be migrating to the Alliance party.
Nationalism needs a broad church; Instead of cannibalising itself, both Sinn Féin and the SDLP should be encouraging voters to transfer down the ballot to one another and should work toward a more joined-up approach to tackling the issues that impact the nationalist community at large.
The polling from Lucid Talk also indicates growing support for a united Ireland. Of those surveyed, 41% said they would vote “yes” to a united Ireland if a poll was held today, and a further 10% said they “would or may” vote yes in 15 to 20 years’ time. The figure is even higher in regard to young people, with 57% of those aged 18-24 stating that they would vote for constitutional change today.
The important caveat here is that those answering “yes” do so even without any idea of what a united Ireland would look like, with only the first-hand experience and knowledge of what it means to be a part of the United Kingdom.
It is here where the SDLP’s strength lies — charting a pathway for a new Ireland, based on the principles of equality, parity of esteem, and mutual respect; In making a positive case for constitutional change based on these principles, and rooted in European values, the party can pull back voters.
The Alliance party’s non-position on the constitutional question means they cannot advocate for one position or the other. And whilst Sinn Féin’s message on a united Ireland is clear, there remain corners and communities of Northern Ireland which the party simply will not reach.
This is why the SDLP is so important — it has the potential to reach all communities and can act as an essential bridge in creating a truly reconciled island. The SDLP offers that its vision is that of a “reconciled people living in a united, just and prosperous new Ireland”.
In line with this vision, the party launched the New Ireland Commission in 2020. The newly formed structure promised to lead on conversations around Irish unity, with a commitment to create three panels of experts, and a promise of detailed research papers.
Following the announcement, it was a full year before any of the three panels were so much as announced, and in the 15 months which have followed, the structure has all but disappeared — no papers, no additional panels, and the Twitter page has had just one post in the past 13 months.
With Sinn Féin having announced the formation of its own Commission last month, the SDLP has squandered an unprecedented opportunity to carve out its vision and lead the charge into a wholly new era for this island.
The party’s failings around the New Ireland Commission are not its only misstep; The partnership with Fianna Fáil — a party largely disliked across the nationalist community in the North — was another strategic error.
Tethering itself to a southern party may seem, to some, like a partnership. However, to others, it’s a sign of weakness and an indicator that perhaps the SDLP cannot stand on its own two feet. As Fianna Fáil faces its own decline in the polls, the tedious relationship between the two parties has long overstayed its welcome.
The SDLP’s original story is clean cut — a party formed of European ideals and founded upon the principles of social democratic values, civil rights, and non-violence. Those principles have been allowed to slip, as the party struggles to maintain its foothold in the post-Good Friday Agreement era it ushered in.
The reality is, work here is not done - civil rights remain under threat and need to be defended; The party should be throwing its weight behind delivering a Bill of Rights per the Good Friday Agreement, achieving economic justice with an anti-poverty strategy, strengthening voting rights for those who call Northern Ireland home, as well as getting behind the campaign to extend presidential voting rights for Irish citizens in the North and abroad.
And what of the party’s European values? A pathway to re-join the EU exists — the SDLP should be working toward clearing the way.
Reclaiming its colours as the party of civil rights inherently necessitates committing to international human rights; That two-thirds of SDLP MLAs voted in agreement with the DUP to restrict abortion access only a few months ago does not align with the values of a social democratic party. In redefining its purpose, the SDLP has to fully embrace progressive, rights-based values.
Time, however, is not on the SDLP’s side, with local elections less than a year in the offing, and the possibility of another Assembly election looming, the party needs sweeping transformational change right now.
By overhauling its political strategy and messaging, reactivating the New Ireland Commission, and platforming its young, up-and-coming political players, the SDLP still has the potential to retread in its historical footsteps as leaders, charting a new Ireland. The party has an important role to fill, if only they would take it.
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