home » media centre » press releases

Campaign for Labour candidates in Northern Ireland launched

Issued : Saturday 14 July, 2007

The Northern Ireland based members of the Labour Party will launch their campaign to contest the next local government elections at the Tom Johnson Summer School in Galway today (see www.labour.ie ). Labour Party National Executive member, Mark Langhammer, delivered a wide ranging speech (attached) in which he set the context for Labour candidates in the North.

National Executive member, Mark Langhammer, who also chairs Labour's Northern Ireland Constituency Council, said:

"We will be bringing a resolution to Labour's Wexford Conference. The resolution will task the party with registering with the Electoral Commission as a political party in Northern Ireland, and contesting the next local government elections."

"It is a modest proposal, pitched at local government elections only - and one that takes account of the potential for wider realignment in the longer term. Labour, although unsuccessful in the recent Dail elections, is a governmental party of scale and critical mass. And Governmental, rather than "community" politics is what we now need in Northern Ireland to take us forward. This is not the time for those committed to reconciliation to hold back from real, governmental, politics."

"The "soda farl socialism" of provincial labour has had its day. There will never again be a serious effort to re-establish provincial labour. It's governmental scale Labour, or none at all. We look forward to the debate."