“100% for a United Ireland. 100% for the Good Friday Agreement.” The SDLP is 100% for a United Ireland. And we are 100% for the Good Friday Agreement. Indeed, the SDLP is the only party in the North that has participated in the Agreement's institutions and worked to make all of them a success.
More than any other party, the principles of the Good Friday Agreement are the principles championed by the SDLP for over 30 years - power-sharing, inclusivity, equality, human rights, North/South cooperation, East/West links. That is why we will not renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement. We will not weaken its protections.
For the SDLP, the Agreement is a covenant of honour between two legitimate traditions on this island. We believe that its principles and provisions must prevail for all, regardless of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland.
The Agreement provides for a referendum on the question of a United Ireland. The SDLP wants to see a referendum during the lifetime of the next Assembly and we will campaign in favour of a United Ireland.
If a majority of the people in the North vote for a United Ireland, then there must be one. That is not just the policy of the SDLP - it is what the Agreement provides.
Uniquely among parties in the North, the SDLP is clear that in a United Ireland the Agreement must endure. Its institutions - such as the Assembly and the Executive - will stand. Equally, the British Irish structures will continue, as will the Agreement's equality guarantees and human rights protections.
The SDLP's vision of a United Ireland is based upon equality. We believe that the rights, protection and inclusion that nationalists sought within Northern Ireland while it is in the United Kingdom, must equally be guaranteed to unionists within a United Ireland.
That is right in principle - since in a United Ireland we will still need to find a way of sharing our society as equals and that is what the Agreement's institutions are all about. But it is also right in practice - since we are unlikely to win a referendum on a United Ireland unless we make clear that a vote for a United Ireland is not a vote against the Good Friday Agreement.
The SDLP's vision of a United Ireland is not only fair and workable, it is achievable. It gives unionists the reassurance that unity is not about the entrapment of a new minority. It gives the South the reassurance of stability. Above all, it gives voters the reassurance that unity does not mean constitutional uncertainty. They will be voting for the Agreement and for a United Ireland.
Achieving a United Ireland will require the persuasion of some unionists and the reassurance of many others. Because of our unblemished record of peace and partnership and our unqualified commitment to the Agreement, only the SDLP can persuade a majority of the North in favour of unity - just as we persuaded a majority of the North in favour of the Good Friday Agreement.
That is why only the SDLP can deliver a United Ireland.