Rodgers to stand down from NI Assembly
Stormont agriculture minister Brid Rodgers is to stand down from the Northern Ireland Assembly at the next election, she announced today.
The nationalist SDLP deputy leader said she would not be seeking her party’s nomination to run for the Assembly next May in her Upper Bann constituency.
She said her decision was “for family reasons”.
Mrs Rodgers, who received acclaim for her handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis, said she was certain that the SDLP would still do well in Upper Bann without her.
She added: “While not being a candidate myself, I will play my full role as deputy leader of the party within Upper Bann and throughout the other constituencies to ensure a large turnout of SDLP support and the return of a strong SDLP team to the next assembly.”
Mrs Rodgers said she was ``committed to completing her work as agriculture minister and would be focusing her energies on key areas of major significance to the farming industry.
These included:
:: Delivering on an action plan for the future of farming in Northern Ireland based on the report of her vision group;
:: Finalising her department’s modernisation plans to better meet the needs of the agriculture industry; and
:: Securing the best possible deal for Northern Ireland in the negotiations during the mid-term review of the European Union’s common agriculture policy and its review of the common fisheries policy.
