The SDLP has withdrawn support for a Westminster motion tabled by the DUP to mark the 10th anniversary of Seamus Heaney's death.
East Derry MP Gregory Campbell lodged the motion and referred to a comment made by Mr Heaney that ruled out the possibility of a united Ireland.
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The motion reads: “That this House notes the recent tenth anniversary of the passing of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, whose poetry and verse have been read by millions.
“And acknowledges his Bellaghy roots in County Londonderry and his Irish Nationalist background, epitomised by a well-known quote from 1983 about not raising a glass to the Queen, followed in later years by another quote during a dispute about the flying of the Union Flag, where he admirably and accurately said, sure there’s never going to be a united Ireland, so why don’t you let them fly the flag.”
The motion also has the support of DUP MPs, Jim Shannon and Paul Girvan and Conservative MP Mike Penning.
It has now emerged that SDLP leader and MP Colum Eastwood, who had supported the motion, withdrew his signature this week.
A spokesman for the SDLP said: “It’s depressing that Gregory Campbell couldn’t pay tribute to Seamus Heaney without trying to stick the boot into nationalists.
"With all the problems our society is facing, you’d think he’d have something better to do with his time.”
