Claire Hanna seeks to become SDLP leader

The South Belfast and Mid Down MP Claire Hanna has confirmed she is seeking to become the next leader of the SDLP.

The move is not a surprise after she was endorsed by both the outgoing leader Colum Eastwood and the party’s Stormont leader Matthew O’Toole.

In a statement she recognised the party is in a “challenging” period.

The SDLP, she said, “must have the humility to recognise that we have to work harder to resonate with people and earn future electoral success”.

In a statement on Sunday, Ms Hanna said the SDLP "have to listen more, organise better, and offer a fresh, compelling message of optimism and clarity of purpose".

She went on to say that the SDLP have to make their values "real for people".

"We need to recognise that too many towns and neighbourhoods don’t see or feel SDLP’s effort locally."

Ms Hanna also thanked former leader Colum Eastwood for his service to the party and to politics as a whole.

Ms Hanna was recently re-elected as the MP for Belfast South and Mid Down with a majority of more than 12,000 votes.

Her family is steeped in SDLP history.

Her father is a former general secretary of the party and her mother served in the Stormont Executive.

Analysis

If Claire Hanna succeeds in her declared intention of growing the SDLP’s electoral reach she will have succeeded where her predecessors have failed in recent times.

Twenty six years ago, in the first assembly election, the SDLP received more first preference votes than any other.

Now it’s fifth without even enough seats to earn a place in the Executive.

That is the challenge.

She will know it will take more than brave words to stop the Sinn Féin juggernaut.