SDLP to form official opposition at Stormont

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has signalled his party's intention to attempt to form an official opposition at Stormont.

The Stormont institutions have been in flux since February when the DUP withdrew its first minister from the devolved executive, calling for the UK Government to act on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's party has remained firm, resisting a number of attempts to resuscitate the powersharing institutions.

The Assembly will sit next Tuesday to attempt for the third time since May's election to elect a new speaker following a recall motion by the SDLP.

However the DUP has made clear it will continue to block the election of a speaker.

Without a speaker, no further Assembly business can be done, including the nomination of new first and deputy first ministers.

Mr Eastwood said he has written to the outgoing speaker Alex Maskey signalling his party's intention to form an official opposition ahead of the recall on Tuesday.

He has also formally nominated South Belfast MLA Matthew O'Toole as leader of the opposition.

Mr Eastwood said his party wants to provide a "constructive alternative to the politics of division, deadlock and failure that has gripped this place for far too long".

"We will provide a new kind of politics that addresses the problems facing parents and families across our communities," he said.

"The SDLP team will hold the provisional Executive to account and provide a radical alternative to the politics of failure.

"Ministers and politicians taking home full salaries cannot be allowed to hide or fail to account for their decisions while families and businesses across the North struggle to make ends meet."

Mr O'Toole said their first act as opposition will be to recall the Assembly.

"The SDLP has a plan, we have a fully drafted emergency Bill that could unlock the millions of pounds resting in Stormont ministers' bank accounts and instead put it directly into families' pockets," he said.

"It's long past time that ministers collecting their wages showed us exactly what the public are paying for. The pretence of governing, while delivering nothing for people and communities, must end."