I FREQUENTLY say that if the SDLP didn’t exist, someone would invent it. As I’ve made my way around various parts of the North in the weeks since I took on the role of SDLP leader, I believe in this more than ever. This week my constituency tour takes me close to home, to North Belfast and an open meeting with those who want to hear more about where we’re hoping to take things in the years ahead.
After a number of tough years, I’m determined to reconnect our party with the people we serve and to hear directly from voters about what they want from us. I’m aware that in some areas we’ve taken our eye off the ball locally and that we’ve sometimes struggled to articulate our strategy to people on the ground, but I believe that the SDLP still has a hugely important role to play in this city, across the North and this island as a whole.
As I meet with local SDLP supporters and the groups and businesses that they work with every day, I'm increasingly finding that the need for a centre left, anti-sectarian party is real – for right now and for the journey to a reconciled new Ireland. In every town and meeting, I’m hearing about the public service gaps voluntary groups are having to plug, the challenges small businesses are navigating and the frustration at Stormont’s lack of ambition.
I’m aware that we need to talk less about the past and instead make voters feel represented, confident and hopeful about the future, in the way early generations of SDLP representatives did. That starts with being more organised in communities, growing our team and listening to people about the issues that matter to them. Our local representatives Paul Doherty and Carl Whyte are leading the way on this.
This change won’t happen overnight but I’m genuinely confident that the SDLP’s vision and values can resonate with many more people as we invest time and effort in 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 groupthink and introducing new ideas to help deliver the services and economic opportunities that people deserve but aren’t getting.
Stop-start government has helped to destroy our public services. 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.
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.
We need more than the crumbs from the table – we need hope. I’ve found the changes in the republic 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 opportunity 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.
• The North Belfast SDLP is hosting an evening with SDLP leader Claire Hanna MP at the Landsdowne Hotel on Thursday, November 21, from 7pm. All welcome.
