SDLP leader criticises ‘absentee’ Sinn Féin MPs

The public are sick of politicians who do not go to work, the leader of the SDLP has said.

Making a pitch to voters as he launched his party’s manifesto for the upcoming Westminster election, Colum Eastwood criticised Sinn Féin’s long-standing abstentionist policy while also highlighting damage caused to public services in the North by the two recent collapses of devolution – one triggered by Sinn Féin, the other by the DUP.

Mr Eastwood predicted that Sinn Féin may ultimately show “common sense” and drop its abstentionist stance in the future.

He insisted “if you’re not there, you don’t count” as he urged voters to back his party to go to Westminster to “stand up and speak up” for their local constituents.

Speaking at the manifesto event in Derry, the…

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