Political career over for now if I lose - Eastwood

The SDLP leader also ruled out being co-opted into the Stormont Assembly

The SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has conceded his political career would be over "for now" if he loses his seat in the upcoming general election.

But the Foyle candidate told a phone-in on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme he was not "countenancing" such an outcome on 4 July.

In less than a month, voters in Northern Ireland - and across the rest of the UK - go to the polls to elect representatives to send to the House of Commons.

Each of NI's 18 constituencies will elect one MP to Westminster.

Eastwood rules out Stormont co-opt

The SDLP has represented Foyle in all but two years of its 41-year history as a parliamentary constituency.

The party held the seat for 34 years until 2017, when Sinn Féin's Elisha McCallion won it from Mark Durkan.

Colum Eastwood regained the seat for the SDLP in 2019 with the largest majority in the whole of Northern Ireland at 17,110.

He said the currency of politics was votes "so if people don’t vote for you you’re gone.

"I wouldn’t even be on a parish council."

He also ruled out being co-opted into the Stormont Assembly if he is defeated saying:

"That’s not how I operate. We have got a very good assembly team, particularly here in Derry."

Mr Eastwood also predicted the dispute with the party's MLA Justin McNulty would be resolved "very very quickly."

Mr McNulty, the member for Newry and Armagh, had the whip suspended when he left Stormont early on the day the assembly returned in February so that he could take charge of his Laois county GAA team at a match in Wexford.

Asked about the situation, Colum Eastwood said:

"We are literally in the process of resolving this. I think we were just about to resolve it when the election was called.

"The door is still open for Justin. The whip has been suspended, not fully removed, and I envisage that being resolved very, very quickly and you've seen Justin out supporting our candidate in Newry and Armagh."