Before anything else, can I thank all our speakers, all of you and our brilliant team for putting this evening together, Mark for his excellent chairing in this heat – politicians and hot air usually go hand in hand but today’s temperature takes it to a new level! I want to say how impressed I have been by the quality of the discussions today and want to reflect on some of what we’ve heard.

In a serious conversation about the future, I’m delighted that all through the day we’ve heard contributions that have been insightful, challenging and forward-looking.

In a debate that can often fixate on the past, these panels have focused on the opportunities, responsibilities and choices that lie ahead.

We’re a decade since the Brexit referendum - a vote that reshaped politics in ways that few fully anticipated, and which serves as a warning against change based on bombast and not understanding. 

Over the Brexit years many of the assumptions that once underpinned political life have been upended. 

Relationships within and between these islands have shifted. 

Old political certainties have weakened, new questions are being asked. More and more people, here and further afield, are wondering whether the arrangements that have shaped our politics – our economy, our public services - remain fit for purpose

In that context, deep thinking about the future of these islands is essential. 

And Political leadership is too – our job should is too shape events, not just react to them. 

Because the question is not whether change is happening, but whether we can shape it, for the common good. 

In that spirit, I’m heartened by the range of people who have joined us today, on the stage and off. 

We’ve brought together a wide range of political viewpoints, experiences and perspectives, united not by agreement on every issue, but by a willingness to engage in a serious conversation.

I am particularly pleased that we have voices from a unionist tradition taking part. Those contributions are vital and welcome. 

But I think it is important to reflect that this place is changing far beyond the traditional binary, there’s a whole world here outside of unionism and nationalism.

Whatever our politics we all have a stake in what comes next, and as a party we have been tying to engage in a sustained, non-tokenistic way and to ensure that the SDLP is a party and a home for people of any background who are invested in a centre left, anti-sectarian New Ireland.

And before the internet lights up to tell me there are not enough voices from political unionism today, let me say that many were invited, including all political parties, and every individual MLA. We respect the decision of those who chose not to attend, and we never framed the event as a for or against debate. 

But for those in elected roles in particular, in the longer term, sitting out conversations about our shared future is not sustainable. Persuasion is critical, making an argument. Our party opposed Brexit, we didn’t want almost any of the last decade to happen, but by god we took every platform and every opportunity to make our case and shape the outcome for better.

So you won’t be surprised that it is the SDLP’s firm and growing belief that the best future for people here is as part of a New and agreed Ireland. But we also recognise that this conversation is bigger than any one party, bigger than any electoral cycle, and bigger than the day-to-day rhythms of politics.

If we are serious about delivering enduring, positive change, then we need to get on with the actual work, to move beyond the rhetoric on a New Ireland to the more difficult task of planning for one.

No one party can, or should, seek to own this conversation.

That’s why we are committed to cross party working on a New Ireland.

Creating a set of principles that can help guide debate, identify areas of agreement and disagreement, and provide a structure for the serious work to be done.

This has been done before - decades ago. The New Ireland Forum provided a space for political parties to come together and think seriously about the future.

Today, we need all who aspire to a New Ireland to show the same spirit of cooperation and purpose.

Some will say now is not the time 

But throughout any process of change, the same is true. 

Life comes at you fast and the public often arrives somewhere long before politicians catch up. 

There are many who already support a New Ireland, and many who oppose it. But the people who will determine our constitutional future are currently undecided.

Increasingly, the evidence shows that these voters aren’t closed off to constitutional change; rather, they are looking for answers, for ambition beyond our stifling local horizon. They know that what we have now is not as good as it gets.

They want to understand how a New Ireland would work, how we would get there, and whether it would deliver tangible improvements in their lives.

But there are politicians who use that uncertainty as a justification for doing nothing at all. 

They argue that because people have questions and concerns, that we should avoid the conversation altogether and just focus on piecemeal tweaks to a failing status quo.

People, voters, can be unsure, of course, but political parties have a duty to set the direction, not to be passengers on a journey others design. Whatever we decide to do here the UK is changing but when we fail to recognise shifting tides, opportunities are missed and events can overtake us. Doing Nothing, leaving us a hostage to fortune, is a choice currently being made.

There will always be another election.

There will always be another crisis. 

There will always be another reason to delay big conversations until some more convenient time. But political change rarely waits for the perfect moment.

Taking responsibility means not some predetermined outcome, but planning and designing now. And that doesn’t mean checking out of making life better right now. 

The SDLP is clear that the journey really matters and that the best path to a New Ireland is through a functioning NI and as Stormont’s Opposition Matthew and our Assembly team work hard to improve governance every day. We can walk and we can also chew gum.

That is why the SDLP has called for the establishment in Dublin of a Ministry for a New Ireland.

To coordinate planning, convergence, to realise opportunities and to colour in the details before people are asked to make a choice.

Preparing for the future is what responsible governments do. It’s what the Irish Government did for Brexit, even though it hoped that wouldn’t happen.

And responsible preparation requires action from more than one government. 

As well as working with us to reform Stormont so it is fit for purpose right now, the UK Government should consult and provide clarity on the criteria that would inform a decision to call a border poll. The principle of consent is core to the Agreement, but the pathway to exercising it remains unnecessarily opaque.
 
Democratic Ireland has a big role in shaping that but people are entitled to understand the rules that govern such an important question, and they’re entitled to honesty that we aren’t at that point yet. This isn’t about throwing border poll dates about (or cancelling those who don’t); none of that answers the big and legitimate questions people have.

The time is right for both governments to work together on structured preparedness. They should examine the practical implications and ensure that they are not caught flat-footed by events.

But preparation is only one part of the task. 

For those of us who aspire, the objective can't simply be to mobilise those who already agree. 

This project requires more than a blueprint for new institutions or a set of economic projections. It requires an understanding of the kind of society we are trying to build.

A New Ireland can’t be a continuation of a divided society under a different constitutional arrangement. It shouldn’t just flip around the dynamic of partition.

It should recast this island as a positive, pluralist place; a society mature enough to acknowledge the wrongs and scars of the past, but confident enough not to be defined by them.

It means reconciliation; not as an event, not as a veto, but as a way of living.

It’s crucial that any discussion about a New Ireland is built on values from the outset. 

Until we get to grips with that, the promise of something better will ring hollow for too many people.

If constitutional change is to command broad support we need to show not just how a New Ireland would function, but what it would stand for.

So, if you support a New Ireland, prove it , be ready to stretch your own story, including your own thinking on Britishness and help to build a credible and practical roadmap.

If you believe that our future is best served in the Union, and that’s a rational and legitimate view, then articulate how it will be an improvement on a failing status quo – in forums like this but also in the every day.

Because that’s the reality here, the status quo is failing here.

That conversation is gathering pace; in communities, in workplaces, and around pub and kitchen tables. 

And if we want to persuade people, then we must also be honest with them.

We must recognise that constitutional change would represent a profound moment in the history of this island. 

We must understand that of course people have concerns about what that would mean for their identity, their place in society, their future. The success of any future settlement will depend not on the strength and volume of our conviction, but on our willingness to listen, to accommodate and to reassure.

That means being more explicit about the protections and guarantees that could underpin a New Ireland. It means legitimising doubt and questions.

It means demonstrating that change can be inclusive rather than exclusive, and that it can create space for multiple identities and traditions to flourish.

It means that while 50%+1 is absolutely the threshold for change, that it’s not a sellout to aim much higher.

Crucially, it is about the idea that constitutional change is about more than an expression of identity – but a process of building a new nation a new society, a new economy - on shared values.

The debate about our constitutional future should be a race to the top, not a race to the bottom.

Not a competition based on fearmongering or hothousing. A contest of ideas - a conversation about who has the best vision, the best plan - for creating opportunity, prosperity and a better quality of life. A society and country fit for the modern world. I was struck by Ian’s analogy about a new car…

The strongest foundation for the future has always been hope.

People want secure jobs, affordable homes and functioning public services. They want cohesion, they want their votes to mean something and politicians that work for and with their mandate.

They want opportunities for their children. Whether in Belfast, Dublin, Cardiff or London, people are looking for answers to those questions.

And increasingly, they are unwilling to accept being told to just wait. So the governments cannot continue to treat this debate as something that can be endlessly deferred; something that is inconvenient or irresponsible.

Change does not wait for governments to become comfortable with it. Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.

So a challenge to all of us to end this event.

Let us recognise that there is something bigger at stake than the next election, the next headline or the next twitter spat.

Let us put aside, where we can, the day-to-day politicking, the narcissism of small differences, and focus on the bigger task before us. A New Ireland, and with a better Northern Ireland along the way.

Change is happening.

The question is whether we want to simply stumble into it by accident and dysfunction or step forward into the future with confidence and purpose.

I know which choice I believe is the right one.

And I hope that, together, we will have the courage to make it