Claire Hanna uses SDLP conference to push Irish unity case

The leader of Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labour Party, Claire Hanna, has used her address to the party's annual conference to reiterate her ambition for Irish reunification and to criticise the region's power-sharing executive.

Hanna, who is MP for South Belfast and Mid-Down, accused the coalition of four parties at Stormont of offering "more chaff than change" and said the devolved executive "kicks the big decisions into the long grass". Her remarks came in a speech that focused heavily on the constitutional future of the island.

She pointed to comments made by US President Donald Trump during his recent visit to Ireland as evidence that the conversation about Irish unity is spreading. "It is becoming clearer by the day that the future of this island is changing," she said. "Don't just take it from me, take it from the leader of the free world. But more and more people are talking about our constitutional future, more and more people are asking what a new Ireland could look like, and more people who might never have considered it are prepared to listen."

Hanna said the "direction of travel is clear", adding: "A new Ireland isn't just on the table, it is on the move." She rejected the idea that the SDLP was simply "plucking dates for a border poll out of the air", insisting instead that the party was "doing the work".

She highlighted the SDLP's June gathering, which brought together people from different parties and traditions to discuss what change might mean. She also referenced the party's "Success by Design" paper on the economy of a new Ireland, and said the party had made "bold choices on the best political structures". Her speech focused on practical questions: how a new Ireland would work, how it would be paid for, how rights would be protected, and how change would benefit everyone.

The address was the centrepiece of the SDLP's annual conference. Hanna's remarks on the executive's performance and her constitutional ambitions were the main takeaways, with the party continuing to position itself as a driving force behind a gradual, evidence-based conversation about ending partition.