CLAIRE HANNA IS to become the new leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) at the party’s annual conference in Belfast today.

Hanna has been a MP for Belfast South and Mid Down since 2019. Following the resignation of leader Colum Eastwood in August, Hanna announced her intention to seek the leadership of the party. 

She was the only candidate to receive enough nominations from the party’s constituency branches. 

Eastwood, who has served as leader of the party since 2015, said that there was “absolutely no doubt in [his] mind that Claire Hanna has what it takes to be the leader of the SDLP”.

The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly and two MPs in Westminster – Eastwood and Hanna.

Eastwood has previously taken aim at Sinn Féin’s policy of not taking its seats in Westminster, saying that it is “important” that voices in Northern Ireland are heard.

Hanna was first elected as a Councillor for Belfast City Council in 2011 for the Balmoral District Electoral Area. She was re-elected in 2014. In 2015, she was co-opted into the Northern Ireland Assembly as an Member of the Legislative Assembly, and re-elected in 2016 and 2018 until her election to Parliament in 2019.

The SDLP is the official opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly.