Colum Eastwood resigns as leader of Northern Ireland’s SDLP

The 41-year-old says it is right time for someone new to take the role as he backs MP Claire Hanna

The leader of the Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP), the once dominant party of Irish nationalism in Northern Ireland, has announced he is stepping down after nine years in the job.

Colum Eastwood, 41, the MP for Foyle, told a news conference in his native Derry that the time was right for someone else to take on the role and named his fellow party MP Claire Hanna as his preferred successor.