SDLP leader says election should not be framed along 'same old battles'

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has warned the forthcoming assembly election should not be framed along "the same old battles and same old arguments".

He told delegates at his party's rearranged conference on Friday that voters in Northern Ireland deserved better than a choice between "bad government or no government".

The conference in Bellaghy was due to take place last month.

It was postponed after the sudden death of DUP MLA Christopher Stalford.

On Friday, about 100 SDLP members gathered for the annual event.

The party leader and Foyle MP said Northern Ireland politics was "all too familiar with the blame game".

"But when it comes to the desperate decisions taken by [Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader] Jeffrey Donaldson over the last few months, there are no ifs, no buts and no maybes about it."

He said the DUP was "fully to blame" for the current political crisis.

"They got their hard Brexit - and in the process helped remove Theresa May and install Boris Johnson," he added.

"And now - after all that - after getting the Brexit they said they wanted, they can't deal with the damage of their own actions."

Mr Eastwood also said the first pledge of any new power-sharing executive should be a 6% pay rise for nurses and health staff.

Pilot programme

He also used his address in County Londonderry to discuss a series of ideas his party wanted to see developed.

He would like a pilot programme to examine a universal basic income and a four-day working week.

At the event, party members also discussed the cost of living, the health service and issues that affect children and young people.

Mr Eastwood, who became party leader in November 2015, also criticised Sinn Féin, in his traditional annual address.

He told activists that Sinn Féin and the DUP were "two terrible choices" which people in Northern Ireland had "been stuck with for 15 years".

He said the recent moves at Stormont to push through legislation quickly gave people "a glimpse of what is possible".

The Foyle MP added that his slate of candidates for the upcoming election in May offered more than the other parties and that the choice for voters would be like the "Premier League versus Sunday League".

The SDLP returned 12 assembly members at the last election.

The DUP was the largest party with 28 while Sinn Féin had 27.

There will be much attention on whether the SDLP can gain seats and the party has hopes of polling well in places like West Belfast, Foyle and Strangford.