Social Democratic and Labour Party

The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a major nationalist party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in the early 1970s to provide a political movement to unite non-violent nationalists who opposed the campaign of violence of Sinn Féin and its military wing, the Provisional IRA, yet who also wanted to campaign democratically for a united Ireland.

It has had three leaders;

• Gerry Fitt
• John Hume
• Mark Durkan

It has served in the current power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, alongside the Ulster Unionist Party, Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party. (The powersharing administration is currently in suspension.)