Deputy mayor left SDLP as a 'matter of principle'

Belfast's deputy lord mayor Paul Doherty said he left the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) as a "matter of principle" and it "wasn't about a minor internal disagreement".

Last month, the west Belfast councillor announced he was quitting the party in a dispute over a council vote on a statue of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.

At a special council meeting, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) passed a motion calling for a decision to close a planning enforcement probe to be "reconsidered".

SDLP councillors left the meeting before the vote, but Doherty, who was not at the meeting, said he would have voted against the DUP's motion.

The statue of Sands was erected last year on public land in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast without planning permission.

An enforcement investigation was carried out, but Belfast City Council officials had said it was "not considered expedient to take any further action".

The DUP motion condemning the statue and calling for the outcome to be "reconsidered" was backed by 27 councillors with 22 voting against and three abstentions.

Two days later, Doherty said in a post on Facebook that he had "left the SDLP with immediate effect".

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme, Doherty said he "felt a real separation on the subject from the SDLP" and said he "had to respond in that way".

"As someone from west Belfast, I understand what people feel about this because I feel it too," he said.

"I'm someone who's spent my whole life in west Belfast - I grew up her, I live here, I work here – and I know that the Bobby Sands stature in Twinbrook holds deep significance for many, many people in my community."

He added that "people are entitled to remember him with dignity and respect".

"It was a personal decision, it was a matter of principle and, for me, it was the right decision," Doherty said.

"This is not about a minor internal disagreement – you don't leave a party after nine years lightly."

An SDLP Spokesperson said: "Councillor Doherty was involved in discussions prior to the vote on the party's position and expressed no concerns."

Doherty will remain as an independent councillor.