Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O'Neill and party leader Mary Lou McDonald give their thoughts on Westminster election.

Derry Journal

Transcript

00:00How's it going?

00:10Sorry.

00:12Are we supposed to wait for the third?

00:14Not sure.

00:16Michelle, Mary, can we just ask you, obviously, on the overall picture of Westminster,

00:20your reaction to these two leaderships?

00:23Well, obviously, it's been a Labour landslide, as the early poll tells us.

00:29I think for us, I don't think that's any surprise.

00:31I think everybody was predicting that.

00:33The polls have been saying that for some time.

00:35I think for us here, I think the politics of this election was very much about the politics here at home.

00:39It was about making the Executive and the Assembly work.

00:41I'm delighted to be here in Maher Fad this evening with Gavin Mallahan,

00:45who is our new MP, hopefully soon to be the third MP for Phil Ulster.

00:50We've pulled very well here in the position seat, but it's very early in the evening.

00:54A lot of tallying still to be done, a lot of votes still to be counted,

00:57but we're feeling very positive, we're feeling very good, just about how the vote has turned out,

01:01and also how the voters have engaged with our positive message.

01:04What about for Manchester? Are you confident there?

01:06I think it's very early.

01:08Are you nervous about that result?

01:10No, we're not nervous, no.

01:12I think we're feeling very confident that it's been a good poll for us across the board.

01:16But, look, it's very early in the evening.

01:18I think we're in for a long night, folks.

01:20We haven't even finished the tally yet, so I can't even give you any more comment.

01:23We'll just see what's happening.

01:25Can we just ask very quickly your reaction to the Labour landslide?

01:28Yes, I mean, I think it was evident for some time that that was going to be the case.

01:31What we're interested in now is in terms of our engagement with Labour,

01:34what that means for the people here, what that means for a good, positive relationship

01:38that perhaps we could have as a new executive with the Labour government.

01:42The Tories have not been any friends to the people here, haven't been any friends to public services,

01:46haven't been any friends to any household that's been dealing with the cost of living crisis.

01:50So I think that there's now yet an opportunity for us to work with Labour.

01:53Number one priority, but exactly, certainly, will be in terms of trying to get a better funding model

01:57so we can do better for public services.

01:59And I think also that there's the bigger national picture.

02:04Certainly there is a moment now for a reset in terms of relationships between Ireland and Britain,

02:10Dublin and London.

02:12So we very much hope that there will be a step change.

02:14We look forward to that.

02:16There are big issues on the direct horizon.

02:19I'm thinking of the legacy legislation, I'm thinking about our wider relationships,

02:25charting a course for the future, our collective relationships with the European Union.

02:30These are big questions and I hope that the new government under the leadership of Keir Starmer

02:35will come with a really constructive and uniquely, has a huge, huge mandate.

02:40And we hope and believe really ample political space to do really big, constructive things.

02:47We look forward to working with you.

02:49Thank you very much.

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