Colum Eastwood is the SDLP MP for Foyle, having been elected in 2019, gaining Foyle from Sinn Fein with a majority of 17,110.
The Foyle constituency in the north western corner of Northern Ireland is centred around the city of Londonderry. The seat was represented at Westminster for many years by the former SDLP leader, John Hume. It was regained by the SDLP from Sinn Fein in 2019 with a large majority.
Some 78.3% of the Foyle electorate voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 Brexit referendum, one of the highest figures anywhere in the United Kingdom.
Colum Eastwood has been the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (Northern Ireland’s second largest nationalist party) since 2015. He previously sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly for Foyle between 2011 and 2019, and served on Derry City Council from 2005 to 2011, becoming the Mayor of Derry at the age of just 27.
Born in 1983, Eastwood was educated at St Columb’s college and the University of Liverpool, although he did not finish his degree. He is married with two children.
Eastwood is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Showing Racism the Red Card, and the Celtic Nations.
Email – colum.eastwood.mp@parliament.uk
Twitter – @columeastwood
