Election Eve Interview 2: The Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party

Attached is our discussion with SoSaturnistic.

So let’s start at the terms start. Immediately after nationalists and Labour receiving a higher vote share compared to the GE before last, critics alleged you engaged in a plan to lock the UUP out of government. Was this a good start to government, and how accurate were these claims?

"Let me correct the record here; people in fact initially alleged, without proof, that I was in some sort of conspiracy set up even before the last election. I have always maintained that these claims weren't accurate as such an arrangement would never have been legal without the UUP's consent. It just isn't possible to exclude someone within a system that is used to guarantee representation in the Executive.

I think that rather than being any sort of start to government though, these claims as well as other disagreements and disputes were a substantial reason for the Executive collapse."

Lets go into the collapse. After a deal was reached between NI Labour and UUP, the SDLP and Alliance pulled out of the Executive anyway. Was this move a bad one for the stability of NI politics?

"I think we have to take a look at the context here. There were a number of factors at the time which led to the SDLP, APNI, and IPP into resigning that day including the fact that a minister was made to resign after being voted into the role. I don't know if this led to more or less stability since we're dealing in hypotheticals but I think setting out grievances was important for all sides since all parties knew what needed to be addressed when it came time to make a deal. If you look at the rest of term, it's been very stable for this reason."

Lets go into this stability question. The UUP has faced numerous leadership changes over the term, only to end up with the person they started with. Has this impacted the Executive's functionality?

"No not really."

What progress is being made on a bill of rights? The term is almost over and we haven’t seen anything publicly.

"Well the aim is to bring the different views of political parties together and reconcile them, which isn't easy. The previous SoSNI has also been balancing other issues this term like negotiating corporate tax devolution so when that was ongoing, the Bill of Rights work slowed down."

Has any progress been made since the terms start? If so, how much?

"Yes, there has been a limited amount of progress. At the start of the term many parties did not even have positions staked out on the issue and this is no longer something that we have to wait around to find. That said, progress has moved slower than what was envisioned. The collapse of the previous government interrupted things, but with a new Secretary of State there might be some new energy as we end the term."

What are your thoughts on the right to buy? Legislation has been submitted to roll in back in part, but what viable alternative do you see that can be used to get home ownership up?

"I am not a major supporter of the House Sales Scheme as it is called here. I think there are reasonable alternatives which do not lead to depletion of the social housing stock, like rent-to-own schemes, and I think those could be a viable substitute. Currently we have some of the highest levels of homelessness in decades and social housing is a key component in addressing this issue; it is hard to justify shedding more stock during this crisis driven by unaffordability."

How would you promote social housing?

"Obviously that will require more building to be done but also more renovation of existing stock to make it higher quality. That tends to require investment and the Housing Executive has unfortunately been held back by low revenues. We can change this by allocating more funding and limiting some of the costs that it has to face in terms of granting compensation when acquiring land. The good news is that the Housing Executive has paid off much of its past debts recently so we can also think about borrowing more capital to get these developments done."

There doesn't appear to have been a budget produced this term, why was this, and as finance minister, do you bear the brunt of the responsibility?

"I costed out our policies and put together a budget document but we didn't receive any block grant estimates as promised by the previous government. The Executive agreed to set it aside and pass a budget in the next mandate as by then we should have either estimates or an actual block grant in place."

Couldn't you have just done a projected budget based on F4 figures such as what the Scottish government did?

"This was discussed but in our view it would have been irresponsible to set expectations when block grant allocations have often shifted substantially at westminster from budget to budget. It has to be said that Holyrood and the Senedd have much more fiscal autonomy compared to Stormont and changes in the block grant do not affect them nearly as much; here it makes up over 90% of all income for the Executive."

Do you think the inability to provide specific figures is a failing of both this national government and its predecessor?

"I think it is a failure when a government makes a commitment and chooses to not live up to it, yes."

Do you think a budget will be able to be presented at the start of the next term?

"It depends on the outcome of the election and the composition of the Executive, but that is something I would very much support."

Do you think you can achieve First Minister this term?

"Look, I'll let the people speak on that matter but I am optimistic. I think we have some good momentum leading into this coming election and I wouldn't be here if I didn't think the SDLP offered a compelling and appealing vision."