Colum Eastwood

Colum Eastwood MP (born 30 April 1983) is an Irish nationalist politician serving as Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) since 2015. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Foyle since 2019, served in Northern Ireland Assembly from 2011 to 2019 and served on Derry City Council from 2005 to 2011.

Colum Eastwood MP
Eastwood in 2014
Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 November 2015
Deputy	Fearghal McKinney Nichola Mallon
Preceded by	Alasdair McDonnell
Member of Parliament for Foyle
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 December 2019
Preceded by	Elisha McCallion
Majority	17,110 (36.3%)
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Foyle
In office 5 May 2011 – 12 December 2019
Preceded by	Pól Callaghan
Succeeded by	Sinead McLaughlin
Personal details
Born	30 April 1983 Derry, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	SDLP
Spouse(s)	Rachael Eastwood
Children	2

Eastwood was first elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2011 and was re-elected in 2016 and 2017. He was also the SDLP candidate in the 2019 European Parliament election to represent Northern Ireland.[1] In December 2019 he was elected to the British House of Commons as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Foyle.

Background

Eastwood was born in Derry, where he was educated at St John's Primary School (Creggan) and at St Columb's College. He later attended the University of Liverpool, where he studied Latin American Studies though he did not finish his degree.[2] He married Rachael Parkes in December 2013 and they live in Derry with their two daughters.

Early Political Career

Eastwood joined the SDLP in 1998 at age 14 to campaign for the Good Friday Agreement. He was drawn to the party by John Hume, Seamus Mallon and the other political giants of that time that "fundamentally changed politics across the island."[3]

He was elected to Derry City Council in 2005 aged 22, and elected for a one-year term as Mayor of Derry in June 2010. Aged 27, he was the youngest mayor of the city to date.[4]

Election to the Northern Ireland Assembly

Following his election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in May 2011, Eastwood was appointed SDLP representative on the committee of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. He sat on the Northern Ireland Assembly committees on Standards and Privileges, and the Environment and was appointed to the post of Assembly Private Secretary to the Minister of the Environment Alex Attwood in 2010.

2011 Assembly election: Foyle – 6 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	DUP	William Hay	18.4	7,154
	Sinn Féin	Martina Anderson	17.9	6,950
	SDLP	Mark H. Durkan	12.8	4,970	5,832	5,484	5,794
	Sinn Féin	Raymond McCartney	9.4	3,638	3,642	3,904	4,044	4,102	4,116	6,245
	SDLP	Colum Eastwood	7.6	2,967	3,069	3,101	3,403	5,377	5,501	5,563
	SDLP	Pat Ramsey	8.1	3,138	3,683	3,717	4,089	4,554	4,626	4,876
	People Before Profit	Eamonn McCann	8.0	3,120	3,209	3,255	3,587	3,698	3,720	3,916
	Sinn Féin	Paul Fleming	6.7	2,612	2,616	3,434	3,503	3,607	3,615
	SDLP	Pól Callaghan	6.8	2,624	2,691	2,730	2,891
	Independent	Paul McFadden	3.3	1,280	1,336	1,353
	Alliance	Keith McGrellis	0.9	334	621	621
	Independent	Terry Doherty	0.2	60	79	82
Electorate: 68,663   Valid: 38,847   Spoilt: 839 (2.11)   Quota: 5,550   Turnout: 57.80

In 2012 he drew criticism from Unionists including Jim Allister after carrying the coffin at the paramilitary funeral of a former Irish National Liberation Army member in Derry. A masked Real Irish Republican Army gunman fired a volley of shots over the coffin, although Eastwood stated he was not present at the time of the gunfire. He defended his attendance at the funeral saying the deceased was a personal friend and added "I wasn't concerned at the time about who was standing beside me, or about what flag or otherwise was draped over the coffin."[5][6] It later emerged that party colleague Mark H. Durkan also attended the funeral.[7]

On 14 November 2015, Eastwood contested the leadership election held at the SDLP's annual conference. He beat the incumbent, Alasdair McDonnell, by 172 votes to 133.[8] Eastwood was re-elected to the NI Assembly in 2016 and 2017, receiving 5,000 and 7,240 first preference votes, respectively.[9]

2016

2016 Assembly election: Foyle - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	DUP	Gary Middleton	11.9	4,737	4,770	4,772	6,641
	Sinn Féin	Raymond McCartney	8.1	3,198	3,220	3,270	3,271	3,274	5,676
	SDLP	Mark H. Durkan	10.6	4,197	4,268	4,395	4,527	4,744	4,801	6,905
	SDLP	Colum Eastwood	12.6	5,000	5,069	5,111	5,217	5,376	5,401	5,804
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	12.7	5,037	5,070	5,168	5,175	5,176	5,656	5,712
	People Before Profit	Eamonn McCann	10.5	4,176	4,354	4,551	4,635	4,720	4,779	4,927	5,394
	Independent	Dr. Anne McCloskey	8.6	3,410	3,484	3,683	3,754	3,832	3,886	3,974	4,227
	SDLP	Gerard Diver	6.8	2,700	2,743	2,797	2,974	3,239	3,249
	Sinn Féin	Maeve McLaughlin	7.7	3,062	3,072	3,114	3,114	3,114
	UUP	Julia Kee	3.6	1,420	1,477	1,484
	Independent	Maurice Devenney	3.0	1,173	1,190	1,213
	Independent	Kathleen Bradley	2.3	902	928
	CISTA	John Lindsay	0.7	259
	Alliance	Chris McCaw	0.6	238
	Green (NI)	Mary Hassan	0.4	157
	NI Conservatives	Alan Dunlop	0.1	36
Electorate: 71,759   Valid: 39,702   Spoilt: 485 (1.21%)   Quota: 5,672   Turnout: 58.00%

2017

2017 Assembly election: Foyle - 5 seats[10]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Sinn Féin	Elisha McCallion	20.6	9,205
	Sinn Féin	Raymond McCartney	16.0	7,145	8,608.76
	SDLP	Colum Eastwood	16.2	7,240	7,332.53	7,595.30
	SDLP	Mark H. Durkan	15.6	6,948	7,023.05	7,275.56	7,380.68	8,413.68
	DUP	Gary Middleton	13.4	5,975	5,975	5,976.71	6,008.09	6,902.37	7,036.37
	People Before Profit	Eamonn McCann	10.7	4,760	4,850.63	5,086.80	5,291.63	5,922.16	6,373.16
	UUP	Julia Kee	3.7	1,660	1,661.52	1,668.93	1,704.50
	Alliance	Colm Cavanagh	2.5	1,124	1,132.93	1,179.67	1,295.22
	Green (NI)	Shannon Downey	0.5	242	244.09	264.42
	CISTA	John Lindsay	0.4	196	199.61	225.45
	NI Conservatives	Stuart Canning	0.2	77	77.19	78.90
	Independent	Arthur McGuinness	0.1	44	44.57	56.35
Electorate: 69,718   Valid: 44,616   Spoilt: 701 (1.55%)   Quota: 7,437   Turnout: 65.00% (45,317)

Election to the House of Commons

On 12 December 2019 Eastwood was elected as Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Foyle in a landslide victory against Sinn Féin candidate, then incumbent, Elisha McCallion.

General election 2019: Foyle[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Colum Eastwood	26,881	57.0	+17.7
	Sinn Féin	Elisha McCallion	9,771	20.7	−19.0
	DUP	Gary Middleton	4,773	10.1	−6.0
	Aontú	Anne McCloskey	2,032	4.3	New
	People Before Profit	Shaun Harkin	1,332	2.8	−0.2
	Alliance	Rachael Ferguson	1,267	2.7	+0.9
	UUP	Darren Guy	1,088	2.3	New
Majority			17,110	36.3	+35.9
Turnout			47,144	63.4	−2.0
Registered electors			74,360
	SDLP gain from Sinn Féin		Swing	+18.4

He was the first of the new MPs elected at the 2019 general election to make his maiden speech in the Commons.[12]

On 11 November 2020 during a Westminster Hall debate Eastwood called for a full and independent judicial inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989.[13]

Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)

Following the SDLP's poor election results in the 2014 local elections, the 2014 European Parliament election and the 2015 Westminster election, the then SDLP leader and MP for South Belfast Alasdair McDonnell resisted calls to stand down, including from the party's deputy leader Dolores Kelly.[14][15]

At the SDLP's Annual Conference on 14 November 2015, Eastwood contested the leadership election where he defeated the incumbent, Alasdair McDonnell, by 172 votes to 133.[8]

References

1. "Foyle results". BBC News – Election 2011. 11 May 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
2. Moriarty, Gerry. "SDLP'S Colum Eastwood ready to reboot 'most successful party in Irish history'". The Irish Times.
3. "Young pretender: Alex Kane profiles the SDLP's Colum Eastwood". belfasttelegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
4. Derry City Council Archived 11 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
5. "MLA criticised for role at funeral where shots fired". DerryJournal.com. 20 April 2012.
6. "Colum Eastwood defends decision to carry coffin of friend Seamus Coyle". BBC News. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
7. "Colum Eastwood moved in SDLP Stormont shuffle". BBC News. 22 April 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
8. "SDLP leadership: Colum Eastwood wins contest against Alasdair McDonnell". BBC News. 14 November 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
9. "Foyle". www.ark.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
10. "Statement of Persons Nominated". EONI. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
11. "Foyle Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
12. "Debate on the Address - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
13. "Colum Eastwood demands full and independent Pat Finucane inquiry". www.derryjournal.com. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
14. Moriarty, Gerry. "SDLP leader resists calls to stand down". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
15. "SDLP deputy Dolores Kelly calls for leader Alasdair McDonnell to stand down". belfasttelegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 16 November 2020.

External links

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou