SDLP deputy leader Dolores Kelly has characterised Sinn Féin as "sleeveens" after Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness this week called for a joint electoral pact for next May's Westminster elections.
Ms Kelly, at the opening of the SDLP’s 42nd annual conference in Belfast last night, said party leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell was correct in “unambiguously” rejecting Sinn Féin’s call for a pact.
Mr McGuinness had promised to reciprocate if the SDLP gave Sinn Féin a free run in North Belfast, Upper Bann and Fermanagh-South Tyrone.
‘Sectarian pacts’
“The SDLP rejects tribal sectarian electoral pacts simply because they are wrong.
“How can you say you want reconciliation when you turn every election into a sectarian headcount?” she said.
Ms Kelly, referring to Sinn Féin’s Westminster abstentionism, said: “The sleeveens who have approached us about tribal pacts don’t even intend to take their seats.
“Remember, they have jettisoned just about every other so-called republican principle, and they fly over to London regularly just to be filmed with a Westminster background,” she added.
She said Sinn Féin should end its abstentionist policy. “Take your seats lads,” she said.
On the Maíria Cahill case, she accused Sinn Féin of a “reprehensible, disgusting closing of the ranks against innocent victims of republican rape and child abuse - an ugly sight to behold in any democratic chamber”.
“Our strategy will always be guided by our core values. Without values you have no compass or sense of direction. A party without values ends up fighting the Tory cuts one day and starts implementing them the next,” she said.
The Upper Bann Assembly member was also critical of the DUP.
“We have a First Minister who insults Muslims; a health Minister who overrides scientific advice to insult gay people; another health Minister who says that working class smokers with tattoos are serial law-breakers; and a double-jobbing former minister who gratuitously insults Irish speakers,” she said.
Confront challenges
Ms Kelly said the SDLP must confront the electoral challenges confronting the party.
“The plain truth that we must face is that from being the party with the largest vote share in 1998, we now have only a 14 per cent share of the vote today,” she said.
“But we are still a force to be reckoned with. We have three MPs, 14 MLAs and 66 councillors.
“To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated. We need to believe again in ourselves, we need to build trust with a politics-weary electorate.”
Ms Kelly said politicians could not be serious about ending division if “educating children apart” was perpetuated.
“The SDLP will grasp the nettle of building a truly integrated system of education. In all honesty would we put in place today’s education systems if we were starting out? No we would not,” she said.
