The ('''SDLP''' — parties in
Northern Ireland . The SDLP is also a
Social Democratic party, and is affiliated to the
Socialist International . It is a member of the
Party Of European Socialists . The party's youth wing is
SDLP Youth .
The party currently has 3 MPs in the
House Of Commons , and 18 MLAs in the
Northern Ireland Assembly .
The party was founded in the early
1970s . It was formed by former members of the
Republican Labour Party - a fragment of the
Irish Labour Party , the
National Democrats , a small social democratic nationalist party, individual nationalists and members of the
Northern Ireland Labour Party . The SDLP initially rejected the
Nationalist Party 's policy of
Abstensionism and sought to fight for
Civil Rights within the
Stormont system. The SDLP, though, quickly came to the view that Stormont was unreformable and withdrew from the
Parliament Of Northern Ireland .
There is a debate over the intentions of the party's founders, with some now claiming that the aim was to provide a political movement to unite
Constitution al nationalists who opposed the paramilitary campaign of the
Provisional Irish Republican Army and wished to campaign for
Civil Rights for
Catholics and a
United Ireland by peaceful, constitutional means. However others argue that, as the name implies, the emphasis was originally on creating a social democratic party rather than a nationalist party. This debate between social democracy/socialism and nationalism was to persist for the first decade of the party's existence and still rears its head occasionally. Founder and first leader
Gerry Fitt - a former leader of the explicitly socialist Republican Labour Party - would later claim that it was the party's decision to demand a
Council Of Ireland as part of the
Sunningdale Agreement that signified the point at which the party adopted a clear nationalist agenda. He would later leave the party in
1980 , claiming that it was no longer the party it was intended to be.
However the party itself argues that its earliest publications show they have remained consistent in their search for a way out of an impasse in Northern Ireland that satisfies nationalist desires and calms unionist fears. The SDLP were the first to advocate the so-called - recognising that fundamental changes in Northern Ireland's constitutional status could only come with the agreement of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland, despite the
Unionist majority
Partition had guaranteed there. For most of its existence Sinn Féin ridiculed this as a granting of a ''unionist veto.'' However, they grudgingly agreed to it, with reservations, when signing up to the
Good Friday Agreement , though they contend it should not be a barrier to political progress in other areas. The principle of consent, also widely accepted by moderate unionists, was explicitly endorsed by a large majority of Irish people in referendums (held on the same day) that endorsed the agreement.
Whilst anxious to achieve
Devolved government in Northern Ireland (which the British Government had prorogued in 1972), the SDLP were also insistent on what was then known as the ''Irish dimension'' - in other words a defined constitutional role for the
Republic in northern affairs. This issue lead to the downfall of power sharing in
1974 (as the British Government were not prepared to break a
General Strike objecting to it) and to Gerry Fitt's decision to leave in 1980. Mr Fitt had agreed to enter into talks with
Humphrey Atkins , the
Secretary Of State , which excluded an Irish dimension but was then rebuffed by his party conference.
John Hume was an advocate of a
Joint Authority approach where both the
Republic Of Ireland and the
United Kingdom would exercise political power. This was a central idea of the
New Ireland Forum which brought together mainstream Irish parties in the 1980s. However this was rejected out-of-hand by
Margaret Thatcher , the Prime Minister, in a speech that became known as "out, out, out" because she dismissed every proposal of the forum by saying "that is out".
The horrified reaction of the
Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald to this speech and the electoral success of Sinn Féin following the
1981 Irish Hunger Strike shocked the Thatcher Government and they were receptive to Fitzgerald's lobbying on behalf of the SDLP which eventually led to the
Anglo Irish Agreement . However, the agreement was undemocratically forced on the people of Northern Ireland - there was no plebiscite, and this led to opposition from both the unionists and from republicans. Republicans were concerned that the agreement did not go far enough. Unionists staged a peaceful demonstration of some 200,000 people in
Belfast city centre, which was duly ignored and not widely reported on national television.
While the SDLP's opponents claimed the party had become "post-
Nationalist " (following a speech where John Hume referred to "an increasingly post-nationalist Europe") after the Good Friday Agreement, Mark Durkan has recently described the party as
Republican . Durkan often emphasises to unionists that the protections and constitutional mechanisms of the Good Friday Agreement would remain in place even if Northern Ireland became part of a
United Ireland .
The SDLP were key players in the talks throughout the
1990s that led to the signing of the
Belfast Agreement in
1998 . John Hume won a
Nobel Peace Prize that year with
Ulster Unionist Party leader
David Trimble in recognition of their efforts.
The SDLP served in the
Power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland, alongside the
Ulster Unionist Party , the
Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin. (The power-sharing administration is currently in suspension). Both
Seamus Mallon and
Mark Durkan served as
Deputy First Minister alongside the UUP's First Minister
David Trimble .
The SDLP was the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland from the time of its foundation until the beginning of the
21st Century . In 1998, it became the biggest party overall in terms of votes received, the first (as so far, only) time this had been achieved by a nationalist party. In the
2001 General Election and in the
2003 Assembly Election ,
Sinn Féin won more seats and votes than the SDLP for the first time.
The retirement of John Hume was followed by a period when the party started slipping electorally. In the
2004 European Elections Hume stood down and the SDLP failed to retain the seat he had held since
1979 , losing to
Sinn Féin .
Some see the SDLP as first and foremost a party representing
Catholic interests, with voters concentrated in
Rural areas and the professional classes, rather than a vehicle for Irish nationalism. The SDLP reject this argument, pointing to their strong support in
Derry and their victory in South
Belfast in the 2005 election. Furthermore, in the lead up to the
2005 Westminster Election , they published a document outlining their plans for a politically united Ireland.
The party claims that the
2005 Westminster Elections - when they lost
Newry And Armagh to Sinn Féin but Durkan comfortably held Hume's seat of
Foyle whilst the SDLP also gained
South Belfast with a slightly bigger share of the vote than in the 2003 assembly elections - shows that the decline caused by Sinn Féin's rejection of physical force republicanism has slowed and that their vote share demands they play a central role in any constitutional discussions. Signs are that the
Irish Government are receptive to this view, though the British Government remain focused on Sinn Féin and the
Democratic Unionist Party , as the mechanisms of government outlined in the Agreement mean that it is only necessary that a majority of assembly members from each community (which these two parties currently have) agree a way forward.
In July 2005 the
IRA announced an end to their campaign. The SDLP fear that the British Government will then withdraw pressure on the republicans to end their rôle in "criminality" - the illegal activities taken to fund the "struggle" but which, in the eyes of many critics, have now taken on a life of their own as a source of funds for the republican movement's infrastructure.
The SDLP endorsed and actively supported the replacement of the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (a force which many nationalists opposed) with the
Police Service Of Northern Ireland . So far Sinn Féin has refused to endorse the PSNI.
In recent years there has been a debate in the party on the prospects of amalgamation with
Fianna Fáil , a party in the
Republic Of Ireland , while the possibility of merger with Fine Gael, another Southern party, couldn't be dismissed. Fianna Fáil have made no such offer, but have done little to discourage rumours either. A recent attempt to press for amalgamation was defeated heavily at the SDLP's conference in
2004 , and the party resolved to strengthen its social democratic profile. But it would be wrong to regard the debate as a simple left versus right or red versus green question - as with Fianna Fáil itself, advocates of merger take a variety of positions on the left-right spectrum. However, Fianna Fáil have recently made their own inroads in Northern Ireland, opening a ''
Cumann '' in Derry and recruiting members in Belfast.
With the collapse of the UUP in the
2005 UK General Election and Sinn Féin's continual abstention from Westminster, the SDLP is once more the second largest parliamentary grouping from Northern Ireland at Westminster. The SDLP sees this as a major opportunity to become the voice of Irish Nationalism in Westminster and to provide effective opposition to the much enlarged DUP group. The SDLP is consequently paying more attention to the Westminster Parliament and working to strengthen its ties with the
Parliamentary Labour Party , whose
Whip they informally accept.
The SDLP, along with Sinn Féin, have long sought speaking rights in
Dáil Éireann , the parliament of the Republic.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern put forward a tentative proposal to allow MPs and MEPs from Northern Ireland to participate in debates on the region. However it met with vociferous opposition from the Republic's main opposition parties, and the plan was therefore shelved. Unionists had also strongly opposed the proposal.
