SDLP ‘knocking on door’ of regaining its European seat, says candidate Alex Attwood

Public antipathy to the "new ascendancy" of the DUP and Sinn Féin could assist the SDLP in winning a European seat and performing well in the elections to the North's new 11 "super councils", the party's European candidate Alex Attwood has predicted.

At the SDLP European and local elections manifesto launch in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast yesterday Mr Attwood said the party "was knocking on the door" of regaining its European seat which was lost to Sinn Féin 10 years ago.

Opinion poll
West Belfast Assembly member Mr Attwood was buoyed yesterday by a Belfast Telegraph opinion poll analysis which found that splits in the unionist vote presented him with a potential chance of winning a seat. This, according to the study, would most likely be at the expense of the outgoing Ulster Unionist Party MEP Jim Nicholson.

The fact that six candidates, including Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister, are standing on a pro-union platform creates a possibility that the shredding of the unionist vote could be to Mr Attwood's advantage, according to the analysis. He said the same voter disaffection applied to the election to the North's 11 new enlarged local councils which are replacing the current 26 councils. "People don't want 11 mini-Stormonts," said Mr Attwood. The SDLP is standing 119 candidates in the local elections.

Among the 150 candidates and SDLP supporters who attended the manifesto launch yesterday was the German president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz.

He is also leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats to which the SDLP is aligned.