SDLP leader addresses annual conference
The SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, has admitted in his speech to the party’s annual conference today that last November’s assembly election was tough and difficult.
Mr Durkan said the only way to respond was to put the party’s shoulder to the wheel and rise to the electoral challenge of Sinn Féin.
The SDLP, said Mr Durkan, had been bruised but not broken by the election results.
Other parties, he said in a clear reference to Sinn Féin, were borrowing SDLP policies but they couldn’t steal the party's principles.
The fightback would start when the party kept its European seat in June’s election, said Durkan.
Attacking republicans, he said that the continued existence of private armies caused damage, doubt and distrust that had wounded the Agreement to the point of suspension.
Unionists, he said, had similarly failed to embrace and sustain the institutions set up by the Agreement.
