HOW do you fix a problem like the SDLP?
Having crashed to just 8.7 per cent in the recent local elections - losing a third of its councillors in the process - Northern Ireland’s once-mighty Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) - the political vehicle of the late, great John Hume - is finished.
‘Finished’ in the sense that it will never again supplant Sinn Féin as the main political party representing Catholic-Nationalists in the North.
Critics of its leader, Colum Eastwood, are circling.
A former MLA for the party, Richie McPhilips, likened him to a Premier League football manager.
“If results are not going your way, you know what the consequences are,” he warned.
A letter calling for his resignation is said to be circulating.
Still only forty, Eastwood has been in the job for eight years. Alas, it’s been a relegation battle throughout.
In last year’s assembly election, the SDLP finished fifth, with just 9.1 per cent of the vote. They had nearly double that (17 per cent) in 2003.
The big problem is that for most of its existence the SDLP was essentially the ‘John Hume party.’
Without him and with Sinn Féin firmly inside the political system – one of Hume’s big goals with the Good Friday Agreement – there is just less need for the SDLP.
Lower league politics is the result.
It doesn’t help that I struggle to think of a telling intervention that Eastwood has made during his time.
In the words of his Hollywood namesake, Clint, is it now a question of ‘a man’s gotta know his limitations?’
But perhaps I’m being too harsh.
There’s little point getting rid of him as there’s no-one else in the SDLP who would fare much better.
Instead, Eastwood’s disgruntled troops need to embrace their secondary status behind Sinn Féin, settling for being a party of influence - not power.
The irony of having so many politicians in Northern Ireland is that so few of them ever produce interesting policy ideas.
The SDLP should fill the gap.
How about focusing on the ‘social democratic’ part of their name, setting the pace with exciting proposals on practical issues like poverty, unemployment and bad housing?
Not to mention Northern Ireland’s failing healthcare system.
Focus on being the party with something to say. Challenge the others. Make them bend to the SDLP view of the world.
If they really want to get ahead of their rivals in Sinn Féin, then make the running with better, clearer all-Ireland proposals.
Eastwood makes the occasional foray in that direction, but it’s always half-hearted.
Back in March, he told an interviewer that “big constitutional ruptures [like Brexit] need to be planned properly”.
Okay, then, come up with a clear plan that does just that.
What is clear is that the party needs to take a long, hard look at itself.
Ironically, so does the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).
They have experienced a similar fate, wiped off the board in recent years by the DUP.
Since John Hume, the SDLP has had four leaders, while the UUP has had six since David Trimble.
None has reversed their parties’ respective fortunes. But the problem for both is not the quality of their leaders.
Sinn Féin and the DUP are top dogs because they have a clearer brand with voters. You know what you are getting.
The SDLP and UUP, on the other hand, represent the politics of ‘a-bit-less-than-the-other-lot’.
The snag for them is that Alliance plays that tune better that they do.
No, sometimes in politics it’s better not to aim for power, but to be influential.
That’s the way forward for the SDLP.
