SDLP should consider 'going into some form of opposition'
The SDLP has opened up the possibility of exiting from the
powersharing Northern Executive and becoming part of a formal opposition
at Stormont.
Deputy leader Dolores Kelly yesterday accused the
DUP and Sinn Féin of “carve-up” politics. She said in order to save the
SDLP’s “soul” consideration should be given to quitting the Executive
and handing over its regional development ministry held by West Belfast
Assembly member Alex Attwood.
“Shouldn’t we be thinking about
going into some form of opposition,” she asked on the opening day of the
annual SDLP conference in the Armagh City Hotel yesterday.
“I’m
not saying we should walk out of government next week or next month, and
I know there is no formal provision for opposition – but shouldn’t we
be thinking about where all this is going?” she added.
Delegates
at the conference today will be watching to see if party leader Dr
Alasdair McDonnell in his keynote speech endorses her suggestion or
offers more concrete proposals of how an official Stormont opposition
might operate.
Such a move would be a radical departure for the
SDLP as it has consistently argued it created the blueprint for the
powersharing Belfast Agreement.
Her comments take on an additional
resonance as at the recent annual conference of the Ulster Unionist
Party its leader Mike Nesbitt also suggested that now might be the time
for his party to go into opposition.
The SDLP and the UUP have one
ministry each in the Executive, Alliance has two, while the DUP and
Sinn Féin hold the remaining seven ministries in addition to two junior
ministries as well as the post of First Minister and Deputy First
Minister.
The comments from the Upper Bann MLA Ms Kelly and Mr
Nesbitt coincide with a recently completed consultation process carried
out by the Northern Ireland Office about reshaping the Executive and
Assembly and possibly creating an official opposition.
No proposals have so far emanated from that consultation but Ms Kelly’s comments yesterday will sharpen the debate.
Ms Kelly said the “DUP/Sinn Féin administration is following a path that is increasingly difficult for us to support”.
“Despite
us being a party of constructive participation and despite the valiant
work of Alex Attwood, we are being tarnished by the failures and
behaviours of this DUP/SF Executive,” she said.
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