Uniting People - Building Prosperity Manifesto 2011

Ladies and Gentlemen

The SDLP today presents its manifesto for the forthcoming Assembly and Local Government elections. I hope people will read it and see that it maps out, in some detail, the things we need to do to create a better Northern Ireland.

And make no mistake. The SDLP, an Irish Nationalist Party, desperately wants a better Northern Ireland.

We want to see a North which is attractive to business: A North that takes care of its sick and gives dignity and respect to its older citizens. A North which is safe and a great place to work and to raise a family.

How can we achieve this goal?

Essentially there are two things we need to do -We need to UNITE PEOPLE and BUILD PROSPERITY.

If we work on uniting people we can build a Shared society that is peaceful, healthy and at ease with itself in one community which embraces different traditions. We must never lose sight of that prize.

If we work to build prosperity we can develop a modern dynamic economy that provides employment and opportunity for all. We will have to invest heavily in the education and training of young people and we will have to follow a bold economic strategy in the short medium and long term. But again the prize is great, and reachable.

So I put it to you – the central issue in this election is who has the ideas, and who is in the best position, to unite people and build prosperity? Who therefore should be at the centre of our devolved Government?

I have no doubt it is the SDLP on both counts.

Let’s look briefly at the record:

UNITING PEOPLE:  the SDLP is the Party of Power-Sharing. We recognised the need for power-sharing in a divided society long before it became fashionable. Others may do it because they are now required to. We do it because it is right.

And it was the SDLP in this last administration that pushed hard to advance a shared future agenda and bring people together. We put uniting people at the heart of housing and regeneration policy in the one department we controlled. We had 14 ministerial public meetings – spreading the message and hoovering up ideas as to how we could unite our people in all areas of government action.

Take Education as well: The transfer issue has no quick-fix solution – but who is more likely to unite people? The SDLP who can reframe the debate around a new allocation system or those who see it either as a not-an-inch no-change issue or those who see it as a war against grammar schools and the middle class?

SDLP ideas combined with the SDLP instinct for partnership and cooperation make it best placed to tackle these stalemates so that we actually do what we all say we want to do and that is deliver great education for children.

I’m not here today to criticise others, but you are free to contrast the SDLP record on uniting people with that of those who gave you the OFMDFM Cohesion Sharing and Integration Strategy. Ask any of the churches or NGOs or anyone who is serious about bringing this community together what they really thought of it. Sooner or later this inadequate strategy will have to be completely rewritten.

And outside of Government we have led the way. We have shown our respect and readiness to embrace and represent all traditions. And when presented with the chance to wave flags and use symbols to advance the narrow perspective of our own tradition only or follow the path of reconciliation – we will always choose the latter course – even though it is more difficult.

BUILDING PROSPERITY: In relation to the economy, no Party has done more to put really serious thinking and new ideas on the table than the SDLP. Over two years ago, when we saw the economic downturn playing havoc with Executive programmes, we proposed a strategy in New Priorities in Difficult Times which would have made key adjustments to spending in order to strengthen the economy.  And again, some months ago Declan O’Loan and his team produced Partnership and Economic Recovery which showed how we could mitigate the £4 billion of cuts coming from London and reconfigure the Budget to prioritise job creation and economic rebalancing. The most comprehensive financial or economic paper ever produced by a Northern Ireland political Party.  We didn’t propose these changes just to annoy others. We proposed them because we thought they were the right thing to do. The Executive Budget was as we said at the time, lazy and unimaginative. It still is. I’m not here today to criticise others but you are free to contrast the SDLP record on building prosperity with the contribution of those who devised the Executive Budget. Ask any of the economists or businesspeople who care passionately about rebalancing our economy what they really thought of it. Sooner or later this inadequate budget will have to be re-written.

And we have led the way since then: we espouse an economic strategy which prioritises job creation in the short-term. Our strategy prioritises public sector reform, inward investment and tax-varying powers in the medium term. And long-term we want to get control of more economic levers. And we do this within a 25-year financial framework agreed with the Treasury which supports us through all political and constitutional change.

So I put the proposition again…

The central issue in this election is who has got the ideas and track record and is therefore best placed to deliver on Uniting People and Building Prosperity?

I believe it is undoubtedly the SDLP and I think people know this to be the case.

Even our very membership card and the vision statement upon it show how uniting people and Building Partnership is part of our DNA.

Look what it says “The SDLP Vision is of a reconciled people living in a united, just and prosperous new Ireland”

I think also that people want to see renewal in the SDLP as they contemplate putting us back at the heart of government. I think they recognise that we performed well in the one department that we had and they know that an Executive with more SDLP ministers would result in better government.

So I want to assure people that our aim is to return to the centre of Government and to have more SDLP ministers around that table. And the renewal is underway too. Although it may be appropriate to quote CS Lewis at this moment when he said,

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream”

But I prefer renewal.  A year ago we said we wanted to bring new faces and new citizens into our Party and I am proud that today we are running a number of candidates of Polish and Portuguese backgrounds, including the first ever Polish assembly candidate. A year ago we threw open the doors to younger people and many have joined our ranks.

We are so proud of our past and of what we have achieved. But the torch now passes to a new generation of SDLP stars.

They will take us to the next horizon.

Back to Events