:00:23. > :00:29.Hello. Welcome to the programme. Were at the SDLP annual conference.
:00:29. > :00:35.The party has a new leader. Beating off three contenders, Alistair
:00:35. > :00:39.McDonnell has claimed the prize. He was denied 18 months ago when he
:00:39. > :00:42.lost to Margaret Ritchie. The SDLP was once the biggest nationalist
:00:42. > :00:47.party and he is taking it into the future. He said he would take the
:00:47. > :00:56.party back to the top table, comparing Sinn Feiner added DUP, to
:00:56. > :01:01.Afghan warlords. What sort of challenge lies ahead for the new
:01:01. > :01:05.leader? With me is the deputy leader of the SDLP, Dolores Kelly,
:01:05. > :01:12.and our political editor, Mark Devon port. Thank you for joining
:01:12. > :01:16.us. Big challenges ahead. Is heavy right man, in your view?
:01:16. > :01:20.membership says that he has, and he has the confidence of the party
:01:21. > :01:28.membership. The other contenders said openly and clearly that they
:01:28. > :01:33.will support the new leader and he said there is a collectivist
:01:33. > :01:39.approach required, and he has given commitment to building team SDLP at
:01:39. > :01:45.all levels of the party. He has been in the past a more divisive
:01:45. > :01:49.figure, with people voting for anyone but Alastair. I Alastair has
:01:49. > :01:57.many fine attributes. He has a significant majority in south
:01:57. > :02:02.Belfast. He has now got the job. We all know that it is a make-or-break
:02:02. > :02:05.time for the SDLP. Everybody knows the challenges that lie ahead.
:02:05. > :02:12.Alastair will have my full support and the full support of the
:02:12. > :02:19.complete party membership. Did you vote for him? It is a secret ballot
:02:19. > :02:25.and they think we should respect the ballot box. In the SDLP system
:02:25. > :02:30.of voting, it is a PR election, so I could vote for everybody. He is
:02:30. > :02:34.the new leader, but will he make ministerial changes? Alex Attwood
:02:34. > :02:40.has done a matter of some job as Minister for the environment and
:02:40. > :02:42.prior to that as minister for social development. I'm sure that
:02:42. > :02:46.Alastair will take that into consideration. He said he wants to
:02:46. > :02:51.hit the ground running. He is calling a meeting tomorrow morning,
:02:51. > :02:56.where we will start to look at how the collective leadership can work
:02:56. > :03:00.and make quickly with the party Executive. That will be Alastair's
:03:01. > :03:10.alter that decision, but he has made it clear that he wants a team
:03:11. > :03:13.
:03:13. > :03:20.approach. And, amid there that I almost pulled it out of the back. -
:03:20. > :03:25.- Conor McDevitt. Yes, he is a rising star and those who did not
:03:26. > :03:34.vote foreign feel that he is a future leader of the SDLP. -- for
:03:34. > :03:39.him. Although he himself said he was never a dark horse, Alastair
:03:39. > :03:45.Macdonald was a little bit under the radar. His launch was a low key
:03:45. > :03:50.as Barnsley attended compared to other candidates. Some people was
:03:50. > :03:55.told that he was in the linen Hall Library with all these tomes behind
:03:55. > :03:58.them, isn't yesterday's man? There was a sense that he had tried
:03:58. > :04:02.previously and had been beaten by Margaret Ritchie and he could not
:04:02. > :04:09.win it then why should he be able to do it this time? But he is a
:04:09. > :04:18.great hands on campaigner. He just that a lot of hands-on contact with
:04:18. > :04:24.individual party members. His people were fairly confident. They
:04:24. > :04:28.were only high in the Lords with the bookies because the MacKellar
:04:28. > :04:32.went with it when they got the chance of a good return on the
:04:32. > :04:42.money. It sounded like a glued one liner at the time, but it turned
:04:42. > :04:47.out to be true. -- glib. Was it his initiation of the process against
:04:47. > :04:51.Margaret Ritchie that went against him, in the end? There is that old
:04:51. > :04:55.adage about he who wields the dagger does not inherit the crown.
:04:55. > :05:00.It was thought that he was leading the field. He decided that the
:05:00. > :05:03.party needed some shaking up and if it had not been for him it is
:05:03. > :05:07.questionable whether we would have been having that electioneer study.
:05:07. > :05:12.So, he did that, but as the campaign went on there was a sense
:05:12. > :05:17.that he was not getting the traction he would have hoped for.
:05:17. > :05:22.There was one point in the campaign when I thought we might see a
:05:22. > :05:26.Malone-that Kelly ticket, but that did not transpire. And he did not
:05:26. > :05:30.gain the traction that he thought. Early on in the campaign he might
:05:30. > :05:35.have thought he would have soaked up more of the vote outside Belfast
:05:35. > :05:40.given that all the other candidates are Belfast-based. What happened
:05:40. > :05:48.there, when it was supposed to be the two of your running together?
:05:48. > :05:50.That's is what people read into it. I threw my hat in the ring for
:05:50. > :05:58.deputy leader of Colin Eastwood, another rising star within the
:05:58. > :06:03.party, who will have leadership potential in the future, as well. I
:06:03. > :06:06.kept my council very much to myself, because I believed that's who over
:06:06. > :06:11.the leader is, I don't want the story to be that the deputy leader
:06:11. > :06:15.voted for somebody else. I certainly what Alastair and the
:06:15. > :06:18.membership to know that I, as deputy leader, and a team player
:06:18. > :06:24.and will be working with Alastair, facing up to all of those
:06:24. > :06:28.challenges and opportunities which lie ahead. Leadership elections
:06:28. > :06:33.have become a recurrent feature of SDLP conferences. The party
:06:33. > :06:37.faithful hope that this will be the last such contest for some time. We
:06:37. > :06:47.have been talking to party veterans and newcomers, and all of them
:06:47. > :06:50.
:06:50. > :06:54.agree on the need for stability and Apparently, there is a major event
:06:54. > :07:00.happening in Belfast this weekend. It involves big names competing for
:07:00. > :07:05.the top prize. Along the way, there have been Pat -- personality
:07:05. > :07:09.clashes. The MTV awards are not the only show in town. There is also
:07:09. > :07:12.the SDLP conference with the added attraction of the leadership
:07:12. > :07:17.election. Leadership is not easy but following in the footsteps of a
:07:17. > :07:21.political giant is even harder. Mark Durkin was groomed for the
:07:21. > :07:26.ball but the party fortunes declined and his watch. Margaret
:07:26. > :07:31.Ritchie presided over further slippage but was warmly welcomed at
:07:31. > :07:35.the conference. When I came into would usher I was confronted with a
:07:35. > :07:39.major Westminster election at which she was a participant, and not only
:07:39. > :07:45.two but three elections this year, so there is now that the space,
:07:45. > :07:49.that opportunity, of three years for the development of ideas.
:07:49. > :07:55.Margaret Ritchie learned for politics at the side of Eddie
:07:55. > :08:00.McCreadie, who she succeeded in the South Down seat at Westminster. His
:08:00. > :08:05.enthusiasm for politics is undiminished. I want the party to
:08:05. > :08:10.go from where it is now into the future, not to try and replicate
:08:10. > :08:14.what happened. It is a different era, different circumstances. I
:08:14. > :08:18.think there is a clean sheet out there and we can make what they
:08:18. > :08:23.like of it. Tony Gallagher was a victim of the party's sinking
:08:23. > :08:27.porches, losing his Fermanagh seat in the elections. But he still
:08:27. > :08:34.wants to have input into policy. own personal view is that we should
:08:34. > :08:39.be thinking seriously about going into opposition, but lots of big
:08:39. > :08:45.decisions that will be involved, with the views of more people than
:08:45. > :08:51.myself. Whether we look at the landscape then or not, I am not
:08:51. > :08:56.sure about the timing of it. Sean Farren and Patricia Farren were
:08:56. > :09:01.competing with sales at the conference. Both the promoting
:09:01. > :09:06.books. The former Stormont Minister says he wanted to write a sequel
:09:06. > :09:09.and he believes that it will not be to go away. Nearly 50% of the
:09:09. > :09:12.delegates I don't know on a personal basis. The complete
:09:12. > :09:17.reversal of the situation 10 years ago when I would have known
:09:17. > :09:21.everybody. Who would have gone to such a conference. That must be an
:09:21. > :09:24.indication of the fact that there is new light coming into the party.
:09:24. > :09:28.Bridging the gap between one generation and the next, these
:09:28. > :09:32.young SDLP representatives are regarded as the future of the party.
:09:32. > :09:36.Taking a break from the conference at the nearby beauty spot, they
:09:36. > :09:41.share their vision. We have had a few years to regroup and reorganise
:09:41. > :09:45.and think a little bit about the direction you want to go in and the
:09:45. > :09:49.new project that is the SDLP. know and believe that we have the
:09:49. > :09:55.right answers and policies that will deliver a credible jobs plan,
:09:55. > :09:59.a credible way out of the economic mess we are in. The leadership
:09:59. > :10:03.election is not necessarily an unhealthy thing. It has put us back
:10:03. > :10:13.in the spotlight again. And, for too long, we have been squeezed out
:10:13. > :10:17.
:10:17. > :10:21.of it by this big two Pike politics. -- type. We move forward now, and
:10:21. > :10:27.we move forward as one party. This is the man who will carry the hopes
:10:27. > :10:31.of SDLP members young and old. Alastair Macdonald has pledged to
:10:31. > :10:35.stop the party's fire, in every parish. He will have to unite its
:10:35. > :10:40.disparate wings and reversed his political decline. A tough job for
:10:40. > :10:45.a man regarded by his supporters and by his opponents as a tough
:10:45. > :10:50.politician. The conference is now n it's thought day, the longest of
:10:50. > :11:00.all the Northern Ireland party gatherings. You can see John Hume,
:11:00. > :11:04.Pat McGlone and corner McDevitt beside him. Saturday saw fooled day
:11:04. > :11:11.of discussion, which included the single biggest issue facing any
:11:11. > :11:14.politician anywhere at the moment, the economy. I am joined by the
:11:14. > :11:19.chair of the Enterprise Committee at Stormont. Do you think that
:11:19. > :11:24.Alastair McDonnell can unite the party going into the future?
:11:24. > :11:29.Absolutely. I think he will be a tremendously good leader. He has
:11:29. > :11:34.got all the skills of the good leader has. And of course, he has
:11:34. > :11:40.shown through his life experience, he has been a businessman, he has
:11:40. > :11:44.been a doctor, a successful politician, in terms of carving out
:11:44. > :11:48.that seat in so Belfast, not just in the Assembly but in Westminster,
:11:48. > :11:53.so he has a proven track record and that is what the party needs. The
:11:53. > :11:58.other thing is, the interesting thing about Friday night, he was
:11:58. > :12:01.the one we candidate who refer to the other candidates in terms of
:12:01. > :12:08.harnessing their talents in order to collectively move this party for
:12:08. > :12:14.word. That was a very smart move on his part. He does a lot of jobs.
:12:14. > :12:18.How has that going to pan out? Hume had a lot of jobs. He was a
:12:18. > :12:22.member of the European Parliament, member for Westminster, member of
:12:22. > :12:31.the Stormont Assembly, he did of those jobs reasonably well. It is
:12:31. > :12:38.up to the electorate to decide. there was an Assembly in those days.
:12:38. > :12:43.There was, but the point I would make is that yes, it is difficult
:12:43. > :12:49.for me, perhaps for you, but for Alistair McDonnell, I think that he
:12:49. > :12:54.can do it and do it extremely well. What about all the candidates being
:12:54. > :12:59.from Belfast? Do you think that having a leader from Belfast will
:12:59. > :13:08.help the party that has lost out in places like Fermanagh, so if Derry,
:13:08. > :13:16.and Antrim? I think that Alistair McDonnell has universal appeal. He
:13:16. > :13:20.is a Glens man. That is in his political DNA, and his real DNA. He
:13:20. > :13:25.understands people. Right throughout the society. He is a
:13:25. > :13:32.doctor. He knows people. In the real sense of getting to grips with
:13:32. > :13:38.their health problems, and so forth. He is a great personality. He has
:13:38. > :13:44.been caricatured as the bill in the China shop. That is a wrong
:13:44. > :13:48.caricatured. He is a man of tremendous energy and great talent.
:13:48. > :13:52.And he could bring a lot of people to the SDLP for perhaps have
:13:52. > :13:56.remained outside or perhaps have stayed at home in previous
:13:56. > :14:00.elections and that is one of a great problems, the SDLP supporters
:14:00. > :14:06.have remained at home. That is a problem, we have got to address
:14:06. > :14:10.that, and Alastair Macdonald will be good at doing that. There is a
:14:10. > :14:15.lot of emphasis in his literature and his campaign about organisation
:14:15. > :14:19.and in his speech, we're going to hear more about organisation and
:14:19. > :14:24.special task forces and so on, but we don't know where he stands on
:14:24. > :14:28.whether you should go into opposition on some of the left-
:14:28. > :14:33.right choices that will face the SDLP, whether to carry on pressing
:14:33. > :14:38.for corporation tax cuts, or not. Do you expect any shift in the
:14:38. > :14:43.ideological position of the party? No, I don't. The party is a left-
:14:43. > :14:49.of-centre party. It has always been in that direction in terms of
:14:49. > :14:53.social and economic policy. What Alastair has put emphasis on it is
:14:53. > :14:58.getting the party together, in terms of its organisation, reaching
:14:58. > :15:04.out to people, attracting people into the party. He has a proven
:15:04. > :15:08.track record of doing that. He wants to expand that through the
:15:08. > :15:13.rest of Northern Ireland. I think he can do that. I think he has
:15:13. > :15:18.caught the skills to do that. And that is what people voted for. In
:15:18. > :15:26.terms of policy, there is no difference in policy are amongst
:15:26. > :15:30.the four contenders for the leadership. It had been said that
:15:30. > :15:37.two are to the left of the party, and two of them to the right of the
:15:37. > :15:42.party. I think that is a false distinction. I think Alastair
:15:42. > :15:47.Macdonald, he has been a very strong social democrat that has
:15:47. > :15:50.always been reflected, in his political work. Yes, he's a man
:15:50. > :15:56.that will push for economic development, that is what we all
:15:56. > :16:00.want. And he has a proven track record of being a businessman, and
:16:01. > :16:05.being entrepreneurial, in his life, but he has also been a political
:16:05. > :16:13.entrepreneur as well, at that has produced results, and that is the
:16:13. > :16:16.important thing in terms of his There was no set plan for a
:16:16. > :16:21.farewell speech from the outgoing leader sh Margaret Ritchie, but
:16:21. > :16:26.yesterday she took the opportunity to remind conference what had been
:16:26. > :16:32.achieved under her leadership. She received a standing ovation as she
:16:32. > :16:38.said it had been an an nour to serve as leader. -- an honour to
:16:38. > :16:44.serve as leader. The truth is SDLP apart, the devolved government here
:16:44. > :16:49.has done little to support people. I think that part of that reason is
:16:49. > :16:54.that the people at the top have lost touch. There was a time when
:16:54. > :17:02.the DUP and Sinn Fein leaders would have understood the hardship and
:17:02. > :17:08.working class communities. But not any more. Our millionaire First
:17:08. > :17:13.Minister, Peter Robinson, surrounded by his barristers and
:17:13. > :17:20.�90,000 a year advisors, is too well insulated from the hardship of
:17:20. > :17:25.citizens. And our globe trotting deputy First Minister, now back to
:17:25. > :17:29.what he regards as porridge is to too consumed of aspirations of
:17:29. > :17:36.living in a palace in Dublin to care. We have heard of big house
:17:36. > :17:45.unionism. Did you ever think you would have big house Republicanism?
:17:45. > :17:51.Gerry and Martin have in every sense gone south. APPLAUSE. What
:17:51. > :17:58.then has the SDLP done as part of this executive to support those
:17:58. > :18:04.most in need? The answer colleagues is quite a lot. Although we only
:18:04. > :18:14.had one department, we did make a significant difference for those
:18:14. > :18:17.
:18:17. > :18:21.who needed help most. Our social development ministers in tightly
:18:22. > :18:31.financial restraints built double the number of social hows as were
:18:31. > :18:35.built in the years before. APPLAUSE. Now may remember we ended,
:18:35. > :18:44.hopefully forever the entire proposition of funding paramilitary
:18:44. > :18:48.groups from prams -- progrags intended for those in reel --
:18:48. > :18:52.programmes intended for those in real need. If politic is not about
:18:52. > :18:55.maintaining the young and maintaining the health of citizens,
:18:55. > :19:01.supporting the vulnerable and providing security for people in
:19:01. > :19:06.their old age, then why would anyone be in politics at all? And
:19:06. > :19:12.so I would remind this conference that amid all the poster, the T-
:19:12. > :19:18.shirt and the excitement of this weekend, the historic calling of
:19:18. > :19:25.the SDLP politics is that we engage in politics to make people's lives
:19:25. > :19:30.better. That and that alone. I want to tell you colleagues that it has
:19:30. > :19:36.been an honour to serve you as the leader of the SDLP. And I want to
:19:36. > :19:40.thank the very many people who have assisted me in that role. And I
:19:41. > :19:47.want to pledge my loyalty to whoever is elected as our new
:19:47. > :19:53.leader. The very same loyalty that I gave to those leaders who
:19:53. > :19:57.preceded me. While I have a huge and I must say exciting agenda for
:19:57. > :20:06.South Down, I will be honoured to serve the party centrally in any
:20:06. > :20:11.role that is asked of me. This SDLP still has something very special to
:20:11. > :20:19.offer our communities and our nation. People continue to look for
:20:19. > :20:25.us and look to us for leadership and for solutions. I came into
:20:25. > :20:32.politics to serve and support people. I found a special home for
:20:32. > :20:39.that in the SDLP. We are here for the right reasons. We're here to
:20:39. > :20:49.help people. And that is what I will all do and that is what we do
:20:49. > :20:53.
:20:53. > :20:57.best. Thank you. APPLAUSE. Well that was Margaret Ritchie yesterday.
:20:57. > :21:02.But these shots now are of the conference at the moment and
:21:02. > :21:08.delegates are hearing from the deputy leader, Dolores Kelly and
:21:08. > :21:13.shortly they will here the leader's speech. Let oo's here from two of
:21:13. > :21:19.the MLAs. What do you make of the new lead sner Delighted with our
:21:19. > :21:23.new leader. He has the qualities the SDLP need to bring us into a
:21:23. > :21:29.new beginning. A new vision and it is exciting times. I'm glad that
:21:29. > :21:32.I'm part of the team. Did you vote for him? Well we're a democratic
:21:32. > :21:39.party and we're able to vote for all four candidates. That is
:21:39. > :21:44.something I did. It is divisive, he has been a divisive figure in the
:21:44. > :21:48.past, people are either for or against him. Do you think he can
:21:48. > :21:54.bring everyone together. Without a doubt. He has qualities that will
:21:54. > :22:00.be able to lead us into the future. He has qualities, he is a good
:22:00. > :22:10.listener, although I am new, he has always given us time. The doctor in
:22:10. > :22:16.him has come out. He can listen. I have no doubt that the 14ML as -- -
:22:16. > :22:21.14MLAs that he will listen to them and to our voters. You're a rising
:22:21. > :22:24.star, but you decided to step aside for deputy leader. Why did you do
:22:24. > :22:29.that? It wasn't the right time for me. It is important to allow the
:22:30. > :22:34.contest to go ahead. It was an important discussion that the SDLP
:22:34. > :22:41.had. What we have learned this a we need to keep talking to each other.
:22:41. > :22:44.Keep talking to the grass roots and we have a good deputy leader in
:22:44. > :22:48.Dolores Kelly. It is a great team and one that won't just be about
:22:48. > :22:52.the two of them, but a collective leadership. That is the way forward.
:22:53. > :22:57.It is about the team and that is what will happen. Is it realistic
:22:57. > :23:01.to get back to the good old days, should you not accept that you are
:23:01. > :23:05.where you are? I think we do. It is important that the SDLP has
:23:05. > :23:08.realised that we have a major challenge. It has been difficult
:23:08. > :23:14.times for the SDLP, difficult elections, but the first thing you
:23:14. > :23:19.have to do when you try to change that is to realise that. The leader
:23:19. > :23:23.has put a blue print before us for that. Are you kisai -- disappointed
:23:23. > :23:31.in the three Belfast candidates going forward and particularly in
:23:31. > :23:37.an area likes your, Derry has lost support and Antrim. How do you grow
:23:38. > :23:41.that back? Derry has three MLAs. That is a big achievement. But you
:23:41. > :23:47.have lost. We have lost support, but we will get it back. Northern
:23:47. > :23:52.Ireland is a small part of the world. Alisdair is from Antrim and
:23:52. > :23:56.he has been in every constitution in the past few years. That will
:23:56. > :24:01.stand him in good stead. He know what is the communities are like.
:24:01. > :24:07.But it is not just about a lead inner Belfast, but having leaders
:24:07. > :24:10.in every community. From your point of view, there seemed to be a lot
:24:10. > :24:16.of young people around the conference yesterday, do you think
:24:16. > :24:20.that he can appeal to the younger voters and supporters of the party?
:24:20. > :24:24.Without a doubt he will. I have been coming to conference for a
:24:24. > :24:27.number of years and I witnessed a different buzz about our party
:24:27. > :24:32.conference, a positive buzz from Friday, through you can see it all
:24:32. > :24:36.happened around us here today. That is something we're looking forward
:24:36. > :24:40.to. We're just seeing Alasdair McDonnell come up to make his
:24:40. > :24:45.speech now. Obviously, as you say, the buzz is there. Definitely, you
:24:45. > :24:49.can see the qualities of a family man coming out. I have no doubt
:24:49. > :24:59.that Alasdair McDonnell will bring back to the kitchen table politics
:24:59. > :24:59.
:24:59. > :25:06.to Northern Ireland. Thank you both. You can now go and enjoy his speech.
:25:06. > :25:11.Thank you. I don't deserve all this, it's going to my head already. I
:25:11. > :25:16.hope everyone had a comfortable night. A good night. And didn't
:25:16. > :25:23.imbibe too much. Any way, last night was the fun today the hard
:25:23. > :25:31.work begins. Friends, delegates, the last few weeks have been
:25:31. > :25:39.intense and fruitful for this party. As we talked and discussed across
:25:39. > :25:49.the north all the issues. Could somebody turn off those lights
:25:49. > :25:52.
:25:52. > :25:57.please? I'm blinded! I know, but I can't see. I have come through the
:25:57. > :26:03.process with two abiding memories. One is the determination of people
:26:03. > :26:08.every where that this party will survive, the value upon which it
:26:08. > :26:17.was founded will be carried forward into a new generation. And into a
:26:17. > :26:21.new Ireland. The other thing we heard over and over again was why
:26:21. > :26:26.can't yous work together? And my answer is yes, we can. That is what
:26:26. > :26:31.I asked for. That is what you have mandated me for and endorsed this
:26:31. > :26:37.weekend. Not just a new leader, but a new leadership system. A
:26:37. > :26:47.collective system that will ensure that the interests of the whole
:26:47. > :26:55.
:26:55. > :26:59.party will always come first. All leaders need to be accountable
:26:59. > :27:05.and to have built in check and balances. And that applies to me as
:27:06. > :27:11.well as everyone else. I think that during the last leadership contest,
:27:11. > :27:17.some commentators referred to me as a bull in a China shop. My wife
:27:17. > :27:22.doesn't agree, but... But friends and colleagues can I tell you that
:27:22. > :27:27.we're going to have some time over the next few weeks. I will play to
:27:27. > :27:32.my strengths and I think at times diplomacy can be overrated. And I
:27:32. > :27:37.believe that the gimmick and the media spin, I will leave those to
:27:37. > :27:43.others. I will take the bull analogy as a tribute to my reserve
:27:43. > :27:50.of energy and my passion. Which tempered with vision and wise
:27:50. > :27:54.counsel can produce a lot. With me, what you see is what you get. And
:27:55. > :28:04.what you will get is the action necessary to save this party.
:28:05. > :28:43.
:28:43. > :28:49.So well you might ask, what will we smash? APPLAUSE. Well first I'd
:28:49. > :28:56.like to smash the myth that the SDLP's fate is settled and sealed
:28:56. > :29:02.and that this party is somehow doomed to fail and die. All that is
:29:02. > :29:07.wrong with us and I have repeated this, is we get get -- don't get
:29:07. > :29:12.enough votes. That is all. I have spent some of my life as a GP and a
:29:12. > :29:18.doctor and I can tell you that this is tpwhrt an uncurable condition
:29:18. > :29:22.that we have reached. This -- this is not an incurable condition. I
:29:22. > :29:30.have the prescription and you have it too. I sent it to you in the
:29:30. > :29:35.post. This is a proven formula that we can conducted, the first
:29:35. > :29:40.successful trials on in South Belfast in 2005 and produced a
:29:40. > :29:45.greatly enhanced performance in 2010. Next I would like to smash
:29:45. > :29:49.the mirth that Sinn Fein and the DUP are -- myth that Sinn Fein and
:29:49. > :29:54.the DUP are invincible. They are not. They are just a bit better
:29:54. > :29:58.than us at getting votes. But I want to splash through the limits
:29:58. > :30:06.to our own -- smash through the limits to our own political vision.
:30:06. > :30:12.We have had too much of our energy into creating a comfortable place
:30:12. > :30:17.for others around the Good Friday agreement that we became hypnotised
:30:17. > :30:22.by it. We must face reality that the agreement has been left by the
:30:22. > :30:28.DUP and Sinn Fein to run out of road. In the hands of the DUP and
:30:28. > :30:38.Sinn Fein, it may provide basic political stability, but it will
:30:38. > :30:41.
:30:41. > :30:48.not deliver the real political We can value stability, of course,
:30:48. > :30:52.we can protect the institutional arrangements that have been set up,
:30:52. > :30:59.and such elements of power sharing and partnership that survive, but
:30:59. > :31:04.we have to realise that the agreement will not deliver the
:31:04. > :31:11.normalisation or any sort of normal poor fix in the hands of Sinn Fein
:31:11. > :31:15.and the DUP. -- normal politics. That will require real steps to
:31:15. > :31:21.combat sectarianism, and a commitment to make a share of
:31:21. > :31:27.future work for others. And the DUP and Sinn Fein are not going to do
:31:27. > :31:35.that. Why should they? They have captured the Good Friday Agreement
:31:35. > :31:40.and the made it in their own, divided image. We have made the
:31:40. > :31:46.thing almost unworkable, they have for the letter of it, but have tore
:31:46. > :31:50.the heart out of it. There is -- such that to this little
:31:50. > :31:56.reconciliation left in it, at all. And from their point of view, they
:31:56. > :32:00.are doing very nicely out of it. Why should the sectarian parties
:32:00. > :32:03.bought for an on-site -- the sectarian talkies vote for a non-
:32:03. > :32:09.sectarian Christmas? What we have now is all that were going to get
:32:09. > :32:19.out of the agreement. There is stability but there is no future in
:32:19. > :32:22.
:32:22. > :32:25.it. The big difficult to go on for what is that, with all the
:32:25. > :32:31.pressures coming around, there is going to be less and less money,
:32:31. > :32:37.and a lot more poverty, and a valuable power sharing element that
:32:37. > :32:41.has been replaced within the agreement has been replaced with
:32:41. > :32:47.something that is going nowhere and will produce no resource for people.
:32:47. > :32:57.It is like a sullen ceasefire, but there is no productivity andopening
:32:57. > :33:07.up. Just as we had nine peace walls, way back when the agreement was
:33:07. > :33:13.
:33:13. > :33:19.signed, we now have, in the 50s. That is what those two parties want,
:33:19. > :33:29.I am blinded by those lights. Can you turn them off, please? Thank
:33:29. > :33:31.
:33:31. > :33:37.you. That is what those two parties are working for and they alike two
:33:37. > :33:41.children, at many stages, and we, and the SDLP, are going to have to
:33:41. > :33:46.do something about it. We need to make things work, we need to make
:33:46. > :33:56.things happen, and we need to make sure that the SDLP recovers boats,
:33:56. > :34:01.to make those things happen. -- votes. I intend to meet as soon as
:34:01. > :34:04.possible with the Executive and the Assembly grip, to assure -- to be
:34:04. > :34:10.sure that we build the basis and foundations for the collective
:34:10. > :34:15.leadership that I talked about, going forward. I will talk to my
:34:15. > :34:23.Assembly colleagues and stress the importance of working right across
:34:23. > :34:28.the all-party with the various interests in the party, between the
:34:28. > :34:34.Executive, and I want to build sub- groups across the party to work on
:34:34. > :34:44.this policy interests. So that is the out walking of the collective
:34:44. > :34:46.
:34:46. > :34:56.leadership. -- out-working. Were going to work and create and
:34:56. > :34:58.
:34:58. > :35:05.openness in the party that will work for all were benefit, -- all
:35:05. > :35:11.of our benefit can I have the likes of please? Why do they keep coming
:35:11. > :35:19.on. They a blinding me, I am sorry. I don't need that. I don't need
:35:19. > :35:25.that. When I am finished the day I am going to walk round the hall,
:35:25. > :35:28.and collect all the copies of the manifestos that were produced, by
:35:28. > :35:33.Executive colleagues and my rivals in the leadership contest, I am
:35:33. > :35:38.going to collect all of those ideas and take them home and study them,
:35:38. > :35:43.so that we can come up with all the good ideas and distil all the good
:35:43. > :35:48.ideas over the weekend, because I believe we badly need those, take
:35:48. > :35:54.all of those together, and unite the party, and I would ask you to
:35:54. > :35:56.do the same. I would ask you to go back to your branches and
:35:56. > :36:01.constituencies and the various places that you work for us and
:36:01. > :36:07.work with the SDLP, and discuss the issues that have been race this
:36:07. > :36:13.weekend, because I want those ideas to be distilled, and to work right
:36:13. > :36:18.through every level of the party that we can, and to ensure that
:36:18. > :36:22.everyone is signed up, and everyone is going forward. The ideas will
:36:22. > :36:27.help and reinforce the strength and collectivity of the leadership and
:36:27. > :36:31.the party, and the growth and the regrowth of the party, and if you
:36:31. > :36:40.don't have a branch in your area, I would ask you to seriously consider
:36:40. > :36:50.starting one and making things happen.
:36:50. > :36:55.
:36:55. > :36:59.I want, early next year, to convene a special conference on all of this,
:36:59. > :37:05.but before that I want to have special meetings in every
:37:05. > :37:10.constituency, and I want to insure much more robust constituency
:37:10. > :37:14.associations, because at those meetings, I would ask you and your
:37:14. > :37:20.fellow members what you feel about all that we are doing, and leading
:37:20. > :37:26.up, in that way, to be in conference -- to the conference
:37:26. > :37:31.that we intend to have next spring. I think we need a massive recovery
:37:31. > :37:35.in voting numbers in the Assembly elections in three or four years'
:37:35. > :37:39.time. And by next task will be to meet with the chief Executive of
:37:39. > :37:44.the party, the general secretary, and to discuss how we will put
:37:44. > :37:48.together the special conference that we need. That renewal
:37:48. > :37:51.conference will be held early next year, and it will discuss and
:37:51. > :37:56.crystallise all of the things we have talked about here in this
:37:56. > :38:04.leadership contest, over the weekend. We need to hit the ground
:38:04. > :38:08.running, and we don't have ears to debate and to worry about electoral
:38:08. > :38:11.performance. We know we have some difficulties and unless we can
:38:11. > :38:16.quickly and clearly demonstrate to the public that we have the will
:38:16. > :38:21.and the ability to move forward the agenda, the level of support might
:38:21. > :38:29.well come up a little, and then fade away again. I don't want to
:38:29. > :38:36.allow any of the energy that I have sort you have to be dissipated. --
:38:36. > :38:40.saw here. Everybody needs to put a shoulder to the wheel. I am asking
:38:40. > :38:43.every single one of you to put your shoulder to the will to make sure
:38:43. > :38:53.that we get some advantage at of the last eight weeks, and in
:38:53. > :39:04.
:39:04. > :39:09.particular, the last three days. We must stick to hour vigil and
:39:09. > :39:15.will lump. We must ensure that the special renewal conference will
:39:15. > :39:22.produce results and there was a clear road to recovery for the
:39:22. > :39:28.party, on the ground -- and give us. We must create political momentum
:39:28. > :39:33.that we can move with, and ride on top of, and ensure that, on the
:39:34. > :39:38.ground, perception is that as a group, we are moving forward. We
:39:38. > :39:43.must be back on the road again as an electoral force. We cannot wait
:39:43. > :39:48.until there is an Assembly election. It must be done, well before that.
:39:48. > :39:55.It is an enormous task, and that is so big right now that you might say,
:39:55. > :40:05.you do not know where it ends. I can tell you that it starts now and
:40:05. > :40:06.
:40:06. > :40:16.it ends when we are Ark back in a good position, politically. -- we
:40:16. > :40:20.
:40:20. > :40:24.We are going to look for help. I am a great believer in delegation and
:40:24. > :40:28.looking for help where we can find it. We are going to look for help
:40:28. > :40:32.mapping out the past and scoping out the work that has to be done
:40:32. > :40:37.and we will look for this practice wherever we can find it. That is
:40:37. > :40:42.why I will be looking to her friends, consulting this week with
:40:42. > :40:47.people inside the party and our chief Executive, and I will be
:40:47. > :40:51.trying to set up a small commission, or Task Force, charged with the
:40:51. > :40:56.task of bringing forward proposals that have been put to the
:40:56. > :41:02.conference early next year, and to create an efficient electoral
:41:02. > :41:08.machine, arising out of that. Let me say, immediately, that the
:41:08. > :41:13.efficiency we are looking for, is to get more SDLP boards through the
:41:13. > :41:23.ballot boxes. That will be the benchmark. And that is the only
:41:23. > :41:38.
:41:38. > :41:43.benchmark I c, going forward. Were going to look to her friends
:41:43. > :41:47.for help, and we have many friends across the political spectrum. We
:41:48. > :41:52.are part of the European social democratic grouping, and many of
:41:52. > :41:57.those parties are very able to help us in the context of best practice.
:41:57. > :42:04.We have friends in Dublin and London. I will be looking to all of
:42:04. > :42:10.those to give us some advice and some ideas, but the real task comes
:42:10. > :42:15.back to us, here. The task force will rely heavily on the
:42:15. > :42:22.organisation drawn up by our chief Executive two years ago, that we
:42:22. > :42:26.did not quite put into practice as we intended. We must be prepared to
:42:26. > :42:32.make the sweeping changes that are necessary, and not to be hidebound
:42:32. > :42:36.by existing structures would they have not work for us. We cannot go
:42:36. > :42:41.on with the fiction that there are lots of functional branches out
:42:41. > :42:46.there. We have some very good branches. But we have a few that
:42:46. > :42:51.are not functioning. And we do not need dead wood branches. We have
:42:51. > :42:56.got to amalgamate smaller branches, and make them work in a way that
:42:56. > :43:06.produces collective efficiency and effectiveness.
:43:06. > :43:13.
:43:13. > :43:16.So, the number of branches that is being carried by a few people will
:43:16. > :43:22.have to be strengthened and developed and the constituency
:43:22. > :43:27.councils will have to be strengthened and developed, as well.
:43:27. > :43:33.There are many branches that hardly ever meet, and we cannot continue
:43:33. > :43:37.with them. We must find new ways of reaching out to everybody, and even
:43:37. > :43:44.people who are not members, reaching out to people beyond the
:43:44. > :43:52.party, members who are supporters, let's call them associate members,
:43:52. > :43:56.people who want to help. And membership should not any longer be
:43:56. > :44:00.targeted through geographical branch. We should have a central
:44:00. > :44:05.registration for members and, perhaps, we should find a better
:44:05. > :44:10.way of registering member centrally, and allowing members flexibility as
:44:10. > :44:14.to where they work, because we find people tried to constituencies,
:44:14. > :44:21.people from west Tyrone, who happen to be working or living in Belfast.
:44:21. > :44:25.We have to take best advantage of the people that we have. We have
:44:25. > :44:30.made the mistake in the past of missing out on a generation of
:44:31. > :44:35.young people, and we cannot allow that to happen again. We have to
:44:35. > :44:40.find space and create space for new young people and there is a
:44:40. > :44:50.tremendous generation of young people around here, at the moment.
:44:50. > :44:58.
:44:58. > :45:04.We have paid dearly for missing out on that generation and I don't want
:45:04. > :45:09.to see that happening again. Most important of all, I would want to
:45:09. > :45:13.bring forward a permanent mechanism for consultation with all members
:45:13. > :45:17.within the party, because I believe there has been a sense that,
:45:18. > :45:23.sometimes, senior members like myself do not listen enough. From
:45:23. > :45:28.my perspective, this must involve a weekly programme of leadership
:45:28. > :45:37.visits to various constituencies, where that is possible. That is
:45:37. > :45:42.very necessary. And we must improve communications, because internal
:45:42. > :45:47.communications are not, to my mind, where they could be at times. There
:45:47. > :45:57.are lots of modern electronic communication methods that we must
:45:57. > :46:02.
:46:02. > :46:06.use because I have found that so I will ask the task force to pling
:46:06. > :46:09.forward proposals for -- bring forwards proposals for that
:46:09. > :46:13.internal party discipline and communication and discipline as
:46:13. > :46:19.well, so that we can make things work, make things work efficiently
:46:19. > :46:25.and allow people to give of their best. To put it simply, what I'm
:46:25. > :46:30.trying to get at is we need everyone pulling on the same rope.
:46:30. > :46:35.I believe a collective leadership will be better placed to improve
:46:35. > :46:40.discipline. The special conference is in the spring is to have some
:46:40. > :46:50.difficult decisions to take and to make. But I think the task force
:46:50. > :46:51.
:46:51. > :46:56.will prepare us for that and set up that, the ground for that. The task
:46:56. > :47:02.force may have to pose some questions about how we take forward
:47:02. > :47:06.our selection of candidates and the question of... If you like the
:47:06. > :47:14.absolute right of the constituency or the people locally to select
:47:14. > :47:18.candidates and I mean, the difficulty I have is we must find a
:47:18. > :47:22.situation, a balanced combination between the local constituency and
:47:22. > :47:27.the party centrally, because I don't think that local parties have
:47:27. > :47:33.the right to select a losing ticket. I think we must create
:47:33. > :47:43.circumstances where every time we run an election, we pick winners.
:47:43. > :47:56.
:47:56. > :48:01.But I'm determined that the decisions such as we, the decisions
:48:01. > :48:08.we take will not be taken in the mouth of an election. That the SDLP
:48:08. > :48:11.is going to be prepared and battle ready at all times. We have to make
:48:11. > :48:16.our choices long before the date of an election. Our candidates will be
:48:16. > :48:20.well known in advance and be promoted as party representatives.
:48:20. > :48:24.With the appropriate resources and the backing. That is how winning
:48:24. > :48:29.party do it. That is how we're going to do it. There are other
:48:29. > :48:32.thing we must do to signal that we're back in business. This party
:48:32. > :48:37.will organise a conference on the economy for one and there may be
:48:37. > :48:43.others, but the economy is particularly important. We have
:48:43. > :48:46.established over the years a track record and with the help of our
:48:46. > :48:50.policy team, senior political representative and our staff,
:48:50. > :48:56.producing well written policy papers which have won praise from
:48:56. > :49:06.economists and others. And not a little of times imitation from our
:49:06. > :49:13.
:49:13. > :49:17.There is no other source of political leadership on economic
:49:17. > :49:22.issues in the inner city at the moment. And it is a time -- in the
:49:22. > :49:28.north at the moment. And it is a triem when people are crying out
:49:28. > :49:33.for a strong lead. But the most important reason is that we are the
:49:33. > :49:39.social democratic and Labour Party and we have to produce a social
:49:39. > :49:44.democratic response, or what is happening in our system. Our
:49:44. > :49:48.economy is in the grip of a Tory orthodoxy which would not give the
:49:48. > :49:52.time of day to democratic institutions, democratic notions of
:49:52. > :49:57.shielding the vulnerable and we're meeting with this each day and Alex
:49:57. > :50:07.has done a tremendous job in trying to face down the exchequer and the
:50:07. > :50:20.
:50:20. > :50:25.Either the DUP nor Sinn Fein will contest that exchequer orthodoxy,
:50:25. > :50:31.they have no intention of putting it up to the Chancellor, as Alex
:50:31. > :50:34.Salmond has done in Scotland. None whatsoever. The Tory plan is simple.
:50:34. > :50:37.Squeeze the expenditure, side of the thing, cut the money this a
:50:38. > :50:42.going out and then devolve the responsibility for the cuts
:50:42. > :50:49.implementing the cuts to the Sinn Fein and the DUP in the Executive.
:50:49. > :50:59.And Sinn Fein and the DUP are little more than ba lives for the -
:50:59. > :51:10.
:51:10. > :51:15.- bailiffs for the landlords in the My biggest worry is that there are
:51:15. > :51:21.cuts coming down the line the liebs of which we have not seen in our
:51:21. > :51:25.lifetime. There is cuts in jobs, schools, hospitals, cuts every
:51:25. > :51:31.where. And I'm sorry that the current Executive, with its Sinn
:51:31. > :51:36.Fein ministers and DUP ministers, have no plan except to blame each
:51:36. > :51:43.sometimes and blame London at other time and often to blame both. As
:51:43. > :51:50.the SDLP, we reject the notion that we cut our way out of a recession.
:51:50. > :51:56.As the SDLP, we are in the business of opposing those cuts, providing
:51:56. > :52:02.jobs we believe is always, is not the only business, of the private
:52:02. > :52:05.sector. And the economy and society are not separate worlds. As some
:52:06. > :52:10.would have us believe. Now is the time to put forward our own vision,
:52:10. > :52:14.now is the time to say that clever government spending can be used to
:52:14. > :52:20.boost the economy and protect existing jobs and create ones, new
:52:20. > :52:23.ones. Now is the time to say that it is bad economics to push our
:52:24. > :52:29.most vulnerable people into further pain. Not because we think the DUP
:52:29. > :52:33.and Sinn Fein will understand us, never mind heed us, not because we
:52:33. > :52:38.believe the Treasury would let them do these things, but because it is
:52:38. > :52:43.our job to make some sort of sense out of what is happening to explain
:52:43. > :52:49.to people to hard working family and businesses, that it doesn't
:52:49. > :52:59.have to be like this. There is another way and a better way.
:52:59. > :53:07.
:53:07. > :53:13.I think we have to tell them that we have idenified that other way.
:53:13. > :53:16.That is what social democrats do and why the SDLP will be
:53:17. > :53:21.approaching this new, the special economic conference as soon as
:53:21. > :53:27.possible. The other things that we will do within a hundred days is to
:53:27. > :53:31.start to put our party fund-raising on a sustainable basis. To my mind
:53:31. > :53:36.the day of the big political donor is over and state funding alone
:53:36. > :53:42.while welcome will not be our salvation. In this and many other
:53:42. > :53:46.areas, I want to see us return to democratic principles of voluntary
:53:46. > :53:50.effort, devolving fund-raising, along with control of the party to
:53:50. > :53:55.the ordinary members on the ground. I think that is important. I think
:53:55. > :54:05.if people feel they have been left out it will drift, the drift away
:54:05. > :54:08.
:54:08. > :54:14.and they become less interested. APPLAUSE. We face mood financial
:54:14. > :54:19.pressure and I intend to -- we face immediate finance pressure aye
:54:19. > :54:24.intend to do something about that. I looked at the odds in the
:54:24. > :54:30.bookie's and odds lengthened... And I asked the Chief Executive to go
:54:30. > :54:34.and gather a few pound and put it on Alasdair McDonnell at 6/1. I
:54:34. > :54:40.don't know whether he did it or not. But we will have to make him
:54:40. > :54:46.answerable one of these days! I then reminded him of what he might
:54:46. > :54:53.have won. But joking aside... that is we leave the leader's
:54:53. > :54:57.speech. To discuss what was said, I'm joined by our political
:54:57. > :55:02.correspondent. Very difficult to assess it, because of the technical
:55:02. > :55:06.issues. That's right. We had a leader who said the SDLP needed to
:55:06. > :55:10.be battle red you and today it shot itself in the foot. It had a
:55:10. > :55:15.brilliant opportunity, live on TV to show case a new leader, a leader
:55:15. > :55:20.who did a brilliant job yesterday in his victory speech. Now, you
:55:20. > :55:25.know, it is a eureka moment, live TV anything can happen. He needed
:55:25. > :55:29.to joke more about it. But I think part of the this is the legacy of
:55:29. > :55:32.having no money. The previous leadership had no money, what did
:55:32. > :55:37.they do? They cut the budget for the director of communications.
:55:37. > :55:43.That is what happens when you don't value your press office. Because
:55:43. > :55:47.they should have had this rehearsed and the other thing is that the
:55:47. > :55:53.press corp get a copy of the speech before the leader delivers it and
:55:53. > :55:58.we go through it. We need sound bite. I spoke to another veteran of
:55:58. > :56:02.the press corp and he said this is full of sound bites. I said yes it
:56:02. > :56:06.is a brilliant speech and there was some meat in there about the Good
:56:06. > :56:10.Friday agreement has run out of road from their point of view and
:56:10. > :56:14.the DUP and Sinn Fein. I think what happened is all the lines fell flat
:56:14. > :56:18.and he talk about the fact commentators joked he was a bull in
:56:18. > :56:23.a China shop and made a virtue of that and talked about the fact he
:56:23. > :56:27.was going to have a smashing time and smash through Sinn Fein and the
:56:27. > :56:31.myth that Sinn Fein were invincible and the DUP were. And you know it
:56:31. > :56:35.has not worked out for him. But Alasdair McDonnell is a tough guy
:56:35. > :56:39.and I think he will pick himself up and this was supposed to be a
:56:39. > :56:45.declaration of war on Sinn Fein and it has not worked. What happens for
:56:45. > :56:50.you then, can you go past the delivery of the speech? It will be
:56:51. > :56:55.difficult to go past it. He used an unfortunate phrase where he said
:56:55. > :57:01.could somebody turn out the lights. I think his critics will jump on
:57:01. > :57:06.that. Maybe he wasn't used to the autocue. It is a nerve wracking
:57:06. > :57:13.experience, but it was very difficult to look past it. You were
:57:13. > :57:18.almost feeling so uncomfortable watching it. The lines about things
:57:18. > :57:23.like wanting to improve discipline in the party, wanting to get rid of
:57:23. > :57:27.dead wood candidates, his kind of critique on the Good Friday
:57:27. > :57:30.agreement, all these line were interesting, but they were lost.
:57:31. > :57:35.Let's look at some of the speech. He talked about organisation and we
:57:35. > :57:40.have heard that throughout this campaign for a new leader. Do you
:57:40. > :57:45.think they can get back to where they once were? Or is that
:57:45. > :57:49.unrealistic? It is difficult, he above the rest of the candidates
:57:49. > :57:54.has been talking about organisational change rather than
:57:54. > :58:00.an any big policy change. One of his advisors said that in that
:58:00. > :58:06.regard, you don't teach a drowning man to swim, you save him first. He
:58:06. > :58:09.will make sure the party is battle ready, getting rid of dead wood
:58:10. > :58:17.branches and candidates. And that will be his main priority. I don't
:58:17. > :58:22.think we're going to see any major reform within political reform.
:58:22. > :58:26.Briefly, what sense are you taking from this conference? Well they had
:58:26. > :58:32.a bad morning, a brilliant day yesterday in terms of candidates
:58:32. > :58:37.all spoke well and I think the party member reved up and energised
:58:37. > :58:42.by the race. But they had a bad day. But it has been a long and painful