Colum Eastwood


Colum Eastwood MP is an Irish nationalist politician and leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party since 2015. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2011, and has since been re-elected. He was also the SDLP candidate in the 2019 European Parliament election to represent Northern Ireland. In December 2019 he was elected to the British House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Foyle.

Background

Eastwood was born in Derry, where he was educated at St John's Primary School and at St Columb's College. He later attended the University of Liverpool, where he studied Latin American Studies though he did not finish his degree. He married Rachael Parkes in December 2013 and they live in Derry.

Political career

Eastwood was elected to Derry City Council in 2005, and elected for a one-year term as Mayor of Derry in June 2010. Aged 27, he was the youngest mayor of the city to date.
Following his election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in May 2011, Eastwood was appointed SDLP representative on the committee of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. He sits on the Northern Ireland Assembly committees on Standards and Privileges, and the Environment. He is the youngest SDLP member of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
In 2012 he drew criticism from Unionists including Jim Allister after carrying the coffin at the paramilitary funeral of a former Irish National Liberation Army member in Derry. A masked Real Irish Republican Army gunman fired a volley of shots over the coffin, although Eastwood stated he was not present at the time of the gunfire. He defended his attendance at the funeral saying the deceased was a personal friend and added "I wasn't concerned at the time about who was standing beside me, or about what flag or otherwise was draped over the coffin." It later emerged that party colleague Mark H. Durkan also attended the funeral.
On 14 November 2015, Eastwood contested the leadership election held at the SDLP's annual conference. He beat the incumbent, Alasdair McDonnell, by 172 votes to 133. Eastwood was re-elected to the NI Assembly in 2016 and 2017, receiving 5,000 and 7,240 first preference votes, respectively.
On 12 December 2019 Eastwood was elected as Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Foyle in a landslide victory against Sinn Féin candidate, then incumbent, Elisha McCallion.
He was the first of the new MPs elected at the 2019 general election to make his maiden speech in the Commons.