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The General Election is an opportunity to punish Sinn F\u00e9in for failing to take seats at Stormont and Westminster, the SDLP leader said.<\/p>\nThe General Election is an opportunity to punish Sinn F\u00e9in for failing to take seats at Stormont and Westminster, the SDLP leader said.<\/p>\n
Colum Eastwood claimed the poll would be potentially decisive in a country divided over Brexit and facing extended industrial action by health workers disgruntled at pay levels and critical of the power-sharing stalemate.<\/p>\n
He said EU withdrawal was a massive roadblock in the way of future progress but his MPs would show up and try to block it in UK Parliament.<\/p>\n
The party is in contention for seats in South Belfast and Foyle.<\/p>\n
Mr Eastwood said: \u201cHistory doesn\u2019t judge those who don\u2019t turn up at defining moments \u2013 it casts a far harsher verdict.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt simply doesn\u2019t mention them because they make no difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou only make a difference by being there.<\/p>\n
“Decisions are made by those who show up.”<\/p>\n
He said Sinn F\u00e9in had \u201cabstained\u201d from its responsibility to govern at Stormont and oppose the EU divorce at Westminster.<\/p>\n
His republican rivals do not take their seats in the House of Commons on principle.<\/p>\n
The SDLP leader said: \u201cIn this election we simply can\u2019t afford the luxury of voicing a strong protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurning your back on Brexit and ignoring it won\u2019t prevent it from happening.<\/p>\n
\u201cPreventing it means facing it head on \u2013 it means voting against it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means voting for people who will go to work and vote against it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald has said it was a dishonest farce to assume that MPs could make a difference to the British Government\u2019s Brexit strategy.<\/p>\n
Mr Eastwood launched his party\u2019s General Election manifesto in Derry.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIn Derry and across Northern Ireland, we also know that there lies the threat of a massive roadblock in the way of our future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe threat of Brexit and Boris Johnson looms over this election.\u201d<\/p>\n
The SDLP leader is in a tight fight for the Foyle seat with Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Elisha McCallion.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe are launching this manifesto for change in Derry because this city is most in need of that change.<\/p>\n
\u201cDerry is tired of empty words and tired of empty seats.<\/p>\n
\u201cDerry deserves delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unionists have called for the British Government to appoint ministers to take key decisions.<\/p>\n
Mr Eastwood said: \u201cThe current semi-skimmed direct rule could be very quickly replaced by the full fat Boris Johnson version if Stormont is not restored soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis election is about Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s empty seats and the DUP\u2019s empty promises.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it also has to be about an empty building in Stormont.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot one person in Northern Ireland has benefited from the stalemate in our politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said for more than 1,000 days both the DUP and Sinn F\u00e9in had been abstaining from responsibility to deliver a government for all of our people.<\/p>\n
\u201cHospital waiting lists have grown longer and longer because they have forced all of us to wait for nearly three years for a government.\u201d<\/p>\n