SDLP Deputy Leader Alasdair McDonnell MP has written to the Conservative Leader David Cameron demanding a meeting to discuss what he described as the Tory “naked sectarian play of the orange card ahead of the forthcoming Westminster election”.

In the letter Alasdair McDonnell said he was deeply concerned by the “very negative intervention in politics in the north at a very crucial time whenever the dissident threat has increased and the talks on policing and justice are reaching a critical final stage”.

“No one is buying the Tory line that this secret all Unionist meeting was an attempt to overcome political instabilities here. If this was the genuine motivation then why haven’t the Tories met with the nationalist parties which represent half of the population living here?

“Political stability can only be achieved in an all-inclusive, fair and honest process, not by exclusive secret Tory/unionist back room deals in the face of a possible hung parliament after the Westminster elections.

“All this meeting has served to do is show contempt for nationalists and add further confusion, mistrust and suspicion into the political process.

“The SDLP will not stand by and allow David Cameron to exploit the policing and justice crisis and reopen old wounds to further his own petty political ends. That is why I have written to him to demand an urgent meeting”. Alasdair McDonnell has also written to the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Taoiseach Brian Cowen calling on them "to publicly reject this crude and dangerous intervention by the Conservative Party".

ENDS

24-01-10