SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has joined MPs from all parties and over 823,000 people across the UK who signed the largest-ever parliamentary petition to call for the lifesaving meningococcal B (Men B) vaccine be extended to those most at risk – children up to the age of 11.

SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has said the huge leak of confidential documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca should be a wake-up call for the British government to finally call time on the rich and powerful using tax havens to hide their wealth.

SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has welcomed today’s news that after a year of protracted price negotiations between the British government and drug manufacturers a deal has been struck which will see a life-saving vaccine against the deadly Meningitis B disease (Bexsero) available for free on the NHS for babies in Derry and across the North. Mr Durkan, who tabled parliamentary motions and campaigned at Westminster with the charity Meningitis Now calling on the government to introduce the new vaccine, has also supported the local campaign by Derry parents Emma and Darren Cowey who lost their nine-month-old son Jamie to Meningitis B in November 2004.

SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has said he is delighted ‘The Return of Colmcille’ festival – one of the showcase events of City of Culture 2013 – won the Best Outdoor category at last night’s 2014 Event Awards in London.

SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has supported a new ‘Reading together changes lives’ campaign by the charity Booktrust – and is encouraging parents and carers of young children in Derry and throughout the North to read regularly to their children.