Time for a new North

During the political affairs debate at SDLP Conference I called for a new regional politics. Full text below.

Conference.

 I don’t want to be an MLA for the second nationalist party. I want to be an MLA for a renewed SDLP that will speak for the majority who want a new North. For the many who know that we are not as divided as our politics suggests.

 This is the type of politics that made the SDLP great. Working hard, reaching out to communities and breaking new ground to evidence that we can be a party for everyone.

 We know it is time to renew. To bring forward a new generation, energetic on the ground, in touch with workers and families and dedicated to making this region work.

 Friends, people want politics to change and they want our party to change too.

They know the DUP – SF coalition isn’t working. Thousands are loosing their jobs and good companies are being put to the wall.

 My generation never had the chance of a job for life and many of us have started our own businesses. We need MLAs who know this and are willing to support inward investments and business start ups in a real way, harnessing the talent and the energy of this region.

 Those of you who marched with the civil rights movement know power-sharing is based on equality and respect. Well today, equality means a Bill of Rights and respect means strong polices to tackle racism and sectarianism. I want honour your legacy and be a loud and confident advocate for both taking on the DUP in a way SF MLAs have failed to.

Truth is the current coalition is built on inequality.

That a nationalist will never be able to hold the justice Ministry because SF negotiated away their right to do so is not just a denial of the SDLP’s mandate, it is an act of outstanding political and social discrimination, the epitome on inequality.

This inequality is also evident on the streets. It fuels the prejudice that boiled over last summer in naked racism. It’s in the flags that are flown every year on our roads. It was on the streets of Belfast this Christmas and in the internet hate groups.

It’s in the gerrymandering of the constituency boundaries and the privatisation of education.

I will challenge hate and prejudice on our street, speaking up for shared communities and demanding that dialogue take place before tensions rise. I want to now why we still spend £1.5 billion a year servicing sectarianism. That’s ten thousand pounds out of all our pockets to accommodate the bigotry the DUP and Sinn Fein so rely on.

When Sammy Wilson comes looking for water rates or tries to sack healthcare workers we will be on the doorsteps reminding voters that he should be tackling the cost of bigotry not hitting on pensioners and the young.

The North is changing.

Our hand in friendship will always be there to those who want to change too. Opposing those who want to undermine power-sharing does not mean we should not work with parties which support it. 

It’s time to offer the electorate an alternative to the DUP-SF coalition.

Cooperating in the interests of this region is not a denial of identity; it is an expression of confidence and ambition for the North and this island. It’s real patriotism, not partitionism. 

Our mission is not to destroy the North but to make it strong. We are the party of the North. The party that knows we can all be proudly northern and proudly Irish. A stronger north will mean a strong Ireland and a weak north a failed one.

But to do this we must change and we must renew. We must prove to ourselves and to the people that we can build new coalitions.

Today is our opportunity to show that we have a future. We can challenge unionism to come to the table and talk about the issues that matter. Their future is not in Hatfield House talking to English Tories it is her in Ireland talking about how we can make this region and this island work.

If a united Ireland is our tomorrow then a new North must be our today.

Let us support the platform for change and start a new conversation which brings ordinary people into politics again.

That’s what the civil rights movement did and so the time has come for a new generation to pick up the torch which John Hume lit and assert that this region is our future and that we will work that common ground to make it a success.

To bury the politics of the past.

To speak directly to those who are young in age and spirit and tell them that a new Northern Ireland built on equality and respect is possible.

That politics is not about the faith you follow or the passport you carry but the better life you want and the ambitions you hold.

Today we proclaim that this is a party with a future.

For the many not the vested interests of the few.

For a strong North and a strong Ireland.

For a new politics and a new SDLP.