A SENIOR SDLP member said he had feared a “wipeout” at the General Election to Sinn Fein.
The source told Derry Daily that the problem for the party was that there was “little difference” between Sinn Fein and the SDLP in terms of policies.
The SDLP lost all its Westminster seats in the General Election.
Former party leader Mark Durkan narrowly lost his Foyle seat to Sinn Fein’s rising start Elisha McCallion, who is also the local MLA.
It is the first time there will not be a nationalist voice at Westminster as Sinn Fein refuse to take their seats.
“The defeat has got nothing to do with Sinn Fein’s slicker election machine or the amount of money it can raise to fight an election,” the senior SDLP source told Derry Daily.
“Our problem is there is no clear blue water between us and Sinn Fein.
“Sure some of our councillors won’t vote until they know how Sinn Fein are going to vote and then vote with them.
“I predicted before the election we would be wiped out and that came true. We are finished, no matter what others may say.
”There is no coming back for us. Sinn Fein has swallowed up the Catholic middle voter.”
However, despite the heavy defeat, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood is putting on a brave face saying the party is up for “the challenge of changing”.
Mr Eastwood said the party would have to “accept” the verdict of voters.
New Sinn Fein Foyle MP Elisha McCallion
“We will not rush into any knee-jerk reactions,” he vowed.
“But nor will we be slow in doing what is required.”
Mr Eastwood said that the result was an “undoubtedly difficult” for the party but also “damaging for our wider politics”.
“For the first time in generations, we have now been left with no Irish nationalist voice in Westminster.”
He added: “I want to make clear it will not be a conversation centred solely on the future of the SDLP – it will be a conversation centred on the future of the country.
“That is our only focus because it is the ultimate point of politics – a point too often lost.”
Mr Eastwood pledged he would not abandon the people who continue to vote for the party.
“Northern nationalism deserves a better strategy than the one which has left us with no assembly and has now placed us at the mercy of a coalition between the DUP and the Tories,” he said.
“There is no future if the north continues to be locked into a political arm wrestle which no one can win.”
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