My SDLP leadership a new era for politics - Alasdair McDonnell

Alasdair McDonnell has told his party conference that his leadership of the SDLP will signal a new era for politics in Northern Ireland. The South Belfast MP was addressing delegates less than 24 hours after his election as leader. In a speech disrupted by his annoyance with the lights in the hall, he accused Sinn Fein and the DUP of presiding over cuts demanded by Westminster. The two parties were "bailiffs for the absentee landlords of the Treasury". He said the SDLP had put too much effort into providing a "comfortable place for other others around the Good Friday Agreement" to the point where his party had become "hypnotised" by it. "We must face up to the reality that the agreement has been left by the DUP and Sinn Fein to run out of road," Dr McDonnell added. "In the hands of the DUP and Sinn Fein, it may provide basic political stability but it will not deliver the real progress that we want to achieve."