Summary

  • The SDLP are holding their annual conference in Belfast

  • It is Claire Hanna's second speech as party leader

  1. Goodbye and thanks for joining uspublished at 12:41 BST 12 September

    That's all from us. Thank you for following our live coverage of Claire Hanna's third conference speech as SDLP Leader.

    Hanna will be live on Sunday Politics tomorrow morning. You can listen to that at 10:00 BST on BBC Radio Ulster & BBC Sounds. It'll also be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC iPlayer at 14:15 BST.

  2. 'I want us to win'published at 12:41 BST 12 September

    Voters in Northern Ireland will go to the polls in May 2027 to elect a new Stormont Assembly. Hanna tells her party she's 'giving it all' she's got because she wants more SDLP representatives elected. "I want us to win and I know that we can do it."

    But she adds that she "doesn't want power without purpose". Hanna wants to "dismantle the things that divide us, and offer hope after years of decay".

  3. Biggest question isn't border poll datepublished at 12:39 BST 12 September

    Hanna says that her party aren't "plucking dates for a border poll out of the air".

    She says the biggest question isn't the date for a border poll but "why?", "how?" and "who?".

    "Who do you trust to do the work and not just wave the flag?"

    Who do you trust to make Dublin and London understand that preparing can no longer be put off?"

    Who do you trust to represent not only the people who already agree with them.... but every single person who lives here?"

  4. A New Ireland is 'on the move'published at 12:37 BST 12 September

    The SDLP leader says that the "future of this island is changing".

    "A New Ireland isn't just on the table. It's on the move."

    She says that more people are talking about our constitutional future, asking what a New Ireland could look like and more people who might never have considered , it are "prepared to listen".

  5. Trump 'not as orange as he looks'published at 12:35 BST 12 September

    The SDLP leader referenced the meeting in Dublin between the US President Donald Trump and Irish President Catherine Connolly "about two hours down the road", saying "he's not coming here... "it’s his turn to boycott us".

    She adds: "In the last hour Donald Trump has announced that he is in favour of a united Ireland. It turns out that he isn’t as orange as he looks."

    "I'm not sure if anybody has checked from the DUP. I suspect they're burning those Trump flags as we speak.

    I think that underlines, as clearly as anything, that change is happening."

  6. 'Our fearless, peerless leader of the Opposition'published at 12:33 BST 12 September

    Hanna pays tribute to her Assembly team and the party's Stormont leader, Matthew O'Toole. He leads the formal Opposition to the NI Executive.

    "He has drained the light from the eyes of minister after minister, exposing the chaos and impotence...and he has even done the impossible, he’s made the budget cool."

  7. Stormont reform is 'on the table'published at 12:32 BST 12 September

    The SDLP leads the formal opposition at Stormont. It's "because of the SDLP, a campaigning SDLP, real institutional reform on Stormont is very much on the table", she says.

    Hanna claims her party turned years of talk into a mandated plan for change.

    "We turned ‘that’ll never happen’ into Dublin and London now pressing the foot draggers, so that an escape from the cultures of vetoes and collapses is finally in sight."

  8. 'Everything is changing.'published at 12:26 BST 12 September

    Hanna says "change is happening, whether some parties here want to acknowledge it or not. Presidents change. Governments change. The world changes.

    But she adds that "while this party itself is changing, SDLP ethos and values hold true".

    "Compassion, courage, conviction, our values hold steady throughout."

  9. 'There’s something happening in this party'published at 12:24 BST 12 September

    Hanna says new people are joining the SDLP and the party is communicating in new ways.

    "People who might never have seen themselves in the SDLP, are looking to us for answers. People are seeing that we are a party interested not in where you've come from, but where we can go, together."

  10. Coming up shortlypublished at 12:19 BST 12 September

    Claire Hanna is due on stage in the next few minutes.

  11. Executive's early promise has 'evaporated' - SDLP leaderpublished at 11:34 BST 12 September

    Claire Hanna is expected to tell her party conference that the current Stormont Executive's "early promise has evaporated",

    The SDLP leader will say Northern Ireland's four-party coalition is offering "more chaff than change" with "big decisions kicked back into the long grass".

  12. Welcomepublished at 11:34 BST 12 September

    Welcome to our live coverage of Claire Hanna's leader's address at the SDLP party conference. She's expected to speak to delegates at about 12:00 BST.