Election an opportunity to send message over systemic underfunding – Sinn Fein

The General Election is an opportunity for voters to send out a message over the “systemic underfunding” of public services in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein has claimed.

South Down MP Chris Hazzard insisted the party was ready to fight the surprise July 4 election, and would not be distracted by other polls south of the border in Ireland.

He also insisted that the republican party’s team of MPs was delivering effective representation despite not taking its seats at Westminster.

Sinn Fein currently has seven MPs and will be hoping to replicate its result from the last Assembly and council elections when it emerged as the largest party in the region.

Speaking at Stormont, Mr Hazzard said: “It is going to be an opportunity to send a clear signal that the systemic underfunding of our public services and the undermining of the Good Friday Agreement has to come to an end.

“We have had 14 years of the calamitous, cruel and deadly effects of Tory austerity.

“We have had Brexit lumbered upon us and we’ve had successive Tory administrations attempt to breach international law and to undermine the Good Friday Agreement.

“So, July 4, this has to change. It is also an opportunity to send a very clear message that we want locally accountable political leaders to take the decisions that matter to our lives and not to outsource us to the British establishment in London who care little for the north of England, never mind the north of Ireland.

“We can build a better future for ourselves and the next generation by taking those decisions here (Stormont), working in partnership as this institution has shown in recent weeks.”

The party will also be fighting European and local government elections in the Republic of Ireland in June.

But Mr Hazzard said this would not impact the party’s efforts in the Westminster poll.

He said: “We are ready; we have been having our selection conventions now for a number of months.

“We are a national party, we fight on all fronts.”

He also dismissed suggestions that the General Election was less important to his party than other elections.

Mr Hazzard said: “We believe we supply the most proactive and the most effective representation when it comes to politics.

“It is not about wasting time on the green benches or sitting on a needless committee, it is about being there across the table with the British government.

“I myself personally, I have met with every successive British prime minister, tanaiste and taoiseach in the south, secretary of state, since I was elected in 2017, that’s where the bread and butter issues are dealt with and that is where you can have the most effect.”

Meanwhile, the party’s Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew has confirmed she will not be standing for re-election.

Ms Gildernew will instead be running in the Midlands North West constituency in the European election in Ireland.

She said: “That is my sole focus. I will not be running in the forthcoming Westminster election.

“In 2001 when I was first elected by a margin of 53 votes to the seat held by Bobby Sands in 1981 I was humbled.

“It has been both a privilege and an honour to represent the people of Fermanagh and South Tyrone since; and I will be forever grateful for the trust they have placed in me.”