Colum Eastwood: Political career ‘over’ if Foyle seat lost

The SDLP has represented Foyle in all but two years of its 41-year history as a parliamentary constituency.

The party held the seat for 34 years until 2017, when Sinn Féin’s Elisha McCallion won it from Mark Durkan.

Colum Eastwood regained the seat for the SDLP in 2019 with the largest majority in the whole of Northern Ireland at 17,110.

He said the currency of politics was votes “so if people don’t vote for you you’re gone.

“I wouldn’t even be on a parish council.”

He also ruled out being co-opted into the Stormont Assembly if he is defeated saying:

“That’s not how I operate. We have got a very good assembly team, particularly here in Derry.”

Mr Eastwood also predicted the dispute with the party’s MLA Justin McNulty would be resolved “very very quickly.”

Mr McNulty, the member for Newry and Armagh, had the whip suspended when he left Stormont early on the day the assembly returned in February so that he could take charge of his Laois county GAA team at a match in Wexford.

Asked about the situation, Colum Eastwood said:

“We are literally in the process of resolving this. I think we were just about to resolve it when the election was called.

“The door is still open for Justin. The whip has been suspended, not fully removed, and I envisage that being resolved very, very quickly and you’ve seen Justin out supporting our candidate in Newry and Armagh.”