Politics in Northern Ireland is rarely easy, but always worthwhile. As I take up the role of SDLP leader I am under no illusions about the significant work involved in improving politics for people, and for the SDLP.
After a tough cycle of elections, I’m focused on reenergising our party and connecting with people in a way that we haven’t always done in recent years.
While the SDLP remain confident in our vision and values, we’ve sometimes struggled to articulate it to the electorate. I acknowledge that sometimes the SDLP’s answers are complex - we live in a complex place and we don’t go in for easy platitudes.
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We are justifiably proud of our past but we know our job isn’t to tell people how great John Hume and Séamus Mallon were, our job is to make people feel they way they made people feel - represented, confident, safe, hopeful.
Over the last few weeks and into the months ahead, I’ll be visiting every constituency in the north to meet with elected representatives, party members and the public. I want to grow our team, to bring more people into political activism. Change starts with being more organised in communities and listening to people about the issues that matter to them.
That change won’t happen overnight but there are so many talented and principled people in the SDLP who know that what we are currently being served politically simply isn’t good enough, and who are determined to work on behalf of their communities and for a centre left and anti sectarian new Ireland.
I’m genuinely confident that the SDLP’s vision and values can resonate with many more voters as we invest time and effort into connecting to them. We’re committed to using every democratic lever available to improve the lives of the people we serve. Nowhere is this more relevant than as a constructive opposition in Stormont. This isn’t about knocking the Executive for the sake of it, it’s about stress testing their decisions, challenging the group think and introducing new ideas to help deliver the services and economic opportunities that people deserve but aren’t getting.
We want Stormont to work, but it isn’t the limit of our ambition. As social democrats, our relentless focus is people’s needs in the here and now and we will press that case while also building and persuading towards a new Ireland. We think those dual missions are perfectly compatible and that a fair analysis of the decaying state we’re in and where power lies makes the compelling case for constitutional change. It’s the biggest and best idea around. This isn’t about a victory of one tribe over another, but of the ability to improve people’s lives - a new Ireland isn’t the ends, but the means for making change.
We’re making that case in the north and in the south, where we acknowledge that persuasion is also needed. We’ll be celebrating the identity and values that we as Northerners share, and making clear that the people of our region will be an asset, and a fiery northern star that can drive the things that genuinely need to be ‘new’ in a New Ireland.
We think that this reconciled, prosperous new Ireland is the biggest and best idea around, but our belief in it will never distract us from the bread and butter issues people are dealing with in their everyday lives. We don’t need to wait for a border poll to change people’s lives.
It’s our considered view that this region is being let down by instability and by an Executive that constantly seeks praise, while taking very little responsibility for the problems we face. We will exhaust every avenue with the UK government, including at Westminster, but we’re under no illusions about where our region sits in their priorities.
We need more than the crumbs from the table – we need hope. I’ve found the changes in the Republic of Ireland exhilarating to watch over a recent years, and I want that for everyone here. A society that embraces difference and celebrates the arts, a progressive foreign policy and an open, dynamic society that grabs every opportunity that comes its way. That’s the future that’s on offer for us, and one the SDLP wants to help choose and build.