Colum Eastwood

Colum Eastwood is the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. His election victory in December 2019 restored SDLP representation in Westminster after the party’s complete wipe-out in 2017. Foyle – Eastwood’s constituency – had been held by the SDLP for 34 years before it was won by Sinn Féin in 2017. Eastwood also represents the seat on the Northern Ireland Assembly, where he served as chair of the Communities Committee and as private secretary to the former minister of the environment, Alex Attwood. Eastwood has been involved in politics from a young age. He joined the SDLP when he was just 14, in order to campaign for the Good Friday agreement. When he was 22, he was elected a Derry City councillor, and in 2010 – when he was 27 – he became the youngest Mayor of Derry, serving for a one-year term. Eastwood was the first maiden speaker of the “class of 2019”. He used his speech to lambast government plans to reduce prosecutions for former servicemen in Northern Ireland – calling the plans “an affront to victims”. He also outlined his policy priority for a united Ireland, concluding his speech with the statement, “the Government want to build a bridge from Scotland to Northern Ireland. Well, they would be much better suited building a decent road from Belfast to Derry”. He is currently vice-chair of both the Celtic nations APPG and the APPG for showing racism the red card.