WEST Belfast SDLP Westminster candidate Paul Doherty says the upcoming General Election is a chance for people to use their vote and deliver change for good.
Paul Doherty was first elected last year for the party as a councillor for Black Mountain DEA. He is a well-known community activist who runs a food bank in Andersonstown, provides job support, language classes and organises an annual music festival to raise funds to support the community in West Belfast.
“It’s an honour to have been selected as the SDLP’s candidate in this election. I am so proud to call West Belfast my home – it’s where I live, where I’ve raised my family and where I work to support people every day.
“This election feels very personal for me. I became a community activist because of the huge impact that Tory austerity was having on my community. I saw people struggling, many for the first time in their lives, because this government had chipped away at support for people who were just trying to get by for more than a decade. So I set up a community food bank and solidarity hub and now we’re providing direct support to thousands of people every year.
“This election is a chance to show the door to the architects of the pain and misery that so many people here have felt. It’s an opportunity to reverse the Legacy Act that’s shutting down justice for victims and their families in our community. Whatever way you feel about Westminster or the British Government – it’s a chance to say enough is enough and it’s time for change.
“That’s what I’m offering people in West Belfast in this election – a chance to use our voice and our votes to deliver change for good.”
SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MP added: “Paul Doherty is a defining example of the power of community activism and the power of politics to be a force for good. He saw what the Tories had done to West Belfast and instead of sitting down and taking it, he stood up and he’s providing direct support to people who need it. Paul is actually doing the work that a government should be.
“This election is about showing this Tory government the door – I can think of no one better to do that and to cast West Belfast’s vote for it than Paul Doherty.”
The General Election will take place on July 4.
