SDLP on back foot after big hitter Claire Hanna quits post over Fianna Fáil link

Claire Hanna, who said that she was not leaving the party itself, made the move after Saturday’s special party conference approved the new ‘policy partnership’, although 30% of delegates opposed the move.

The new arrangement is short of a merger and it is not yet clear what it will entail.

In a statement, the South Belfast MLA - who is the party’s highest profile and most articulate media performer - said: “I remain unconvinced that an exclusive partnership with Fianna Fáil is the right vehicle to deliver the non-sectarian, transparent and social democratic new Ireland I believe in”.

She said that it had not been an easy decision to resign but that she would continued to “work hard for the people of South Belfast”.

In a statement shortly after Ms Hanna’s resignation, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “It is with regret that we accept Claire’s resignation. The party membership has democratically spoken and difficult though that decision may be for some, their wishes must be respected and enacted.”

In an example of the high esteem in which Ms Hanna is held across much of the political spectrum, Ulster Unionist chief whip Steve Aiken described her as “one of the ablest and most principled politicians out there”. He said that regardless of the new SDLP-Fianna Fail relationship, “Northern Ireland can ill afford to lose her from politics” .

Later, Mr Eastwood told Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra programme that “she’s done this for her own reasons” but “we have to move on” and stressed that the party had decided to back the new arrangement – which 30% of SDLP delegates opposed at the weekend.

He admitted that the situation with his colleague was “a bit confusing” and that he thought “she might have withdrawn the whip from herself” but that his door remained open to discuss the issue.

There is still a lack of clarity as to what the new SDLP relationship with Fianna Fáil entails.

Yesterday morning West Tyrone MLA Daniel McCrossan told Good Morning Ulster that it was “not an easy decision for the SDLP to consider but it was one that was debated very healthily and openly behind closed doors”.

When asked what difference SDLP voters would notice in the next election, Mr McCrossan said that the parties were “at the beginning of this journey” and would seek to create policies which “grab the attention of people – not just nationalist or republican people, but the entire people across this island”.

On Radio Foyle’s Breakfast programme Mr McCrossan was asked how the partnership would work in practice and whether there would be a joint manifesto. He cryptically replied: “This is going to be a solid policy platform across Ireland.”

When Mr McCrossan was asked if the SDLP would simply view it as “collateral damage” if people such as Claire Hanna were to quit, the West Tyrone MLA said: “People join and leave parties every day – it’s not unique to the SDLP.”