The vice-president of Sinn Féin, Michelle O’Neill, has expressed the party’s ambition to maximise its representation of “progressive” MPs from Northern Ireland in this year’s general elections in the UK. With 14 candidates standing for the party, Sinn Féin has strategically stepped back in three constituencies, East Belfast, North Down, and Strangford, to give the Alliance Party the opportunity to challenge the unionists. Similarly, they have done so in South Belfast to give the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) a fair chance on the 4th of July.
O’Neill acknowledged the difficulty of the decision, but stated it was necessary in order to see a change in those who have been supporting the past Conservative government. This move follows the Democratic Unionist Party’s stepped partnership with the Conservatives from 2017, born out of an uncertain parliamentary majority.
O’Neill emphasised the party’s goal for the impending election: to achieve it the greatest number of MPs that reject Tory austerity which has deeply impacted public services over the last 14 years, and who seek operational politics within Northern Ireland. In support of this objective, the party withdrew from the aforementioned constituities to make room for more progressive candidates.
In the last general election of 2019, Sinn Féin managed to secure seven seats. This year, O’Neill is hopeful of the party retaining these seven, and possibly expanding its representation. The highly contested Foyle seat, currently occupied by SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, is one of the main targets of Sinn Féin in this election.
This comes following the party’s underwhelming performance in the Republic of Ireland’s governmental elections, where they missed their support projections in the European and local ballots, despite being considered the government in waiting. But O’Neill is confident that such a misstep will not be seen in Northern Ireland. Despite not fulfilling their full ambition in the South, O’Neill admitted to making some progress.
“We have tasks to complete there and we will undertake them, then recuperate and return in time to engage in the next challenge in the South. However, I don’t believe there’s any connection to what’s happening here,” emphasised Ms O’Neill.
Speaking about future governance in London, Ms O’Neill conveyed Sinn Féin’s desire to cultivate a strong rapport with the Labour Party, should they emerge victorious in the upcoming elections.
“The Labour Party’s manifesto touched upon public service enhancement, an area we are definitely interested in collaborating with Labour on,” Ms O’Neill underscored.
“In addition, there’s the crucial matter of how our funding is managed and how our public services are financed. We have made some headway in this regard, but our commitment to making more strides would be an immediate point of discussion with the Labour Party, should they secure the election.”
The Sinn Féin representative further asserted their intention to nurture a healthier relationship with Labour, for the welfare of all inhabitants in the region. – PA