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Analysis: Good time to step down for burnt-out SDLP leader

PA Media Colum Eastwood speaking in front of a backdrop that has SDLP branding. He is wearing a suit and tiePA Media
There's been talk for time time within the party that Colum Eastwood was feeling a bit burnt out

As the saying goes you wait ages for a bus, and you end up with two coming along at once.

It could equally apply to political resignations in Northern Ireland, where in the past week alone the Ulster Unionists have lost their leader and now the SDLP is shaking things up.

Sources close to Colum Eastwood said his transition away from leader would be much more seamless than that of his former Stormont opposition partners.

If the news still comes as a surprise to many, within SDLP circles there’s been talk for some time that Colum Eastwood was feeling a bit burnt out.

And with the Westminster election over and any further planned elections three years away, it seemed as good a time as any to call it quits and step down on his own terms.

He will keep the Westminster seat for Foyle that he won again in the recent general election and he’s expected to turn his hand to helping the party’s New Ireland commission he set up.

Who will be the next leader of the SDLP?

PA Media Claire Hanna smiling into the camera. A street with houses out of focus in the background. She is wearing a blazer with a sticker that reads "vote Hanna" on the lapel.PA Media
One senior source says they would be "astonished" if anyone contested Claire Hanna for the job

As for who replaces Mr Eastwood there’s only one obvious choice: his colleague on the Green benches, Claire Hanna.

The time has surely come for the MP who once almost severed ties with her party after Colum Eastwood forged a short-lasting “partnership” with Fianna Fáil.

Only Ms Hanna and the party’s eight MLAs are eligible to run for the leadership, according to party rules.

And one senior source said they would be “astonished” if there ended up being a contest instead of a coronation for Claire Hanna.

Mr Eastwood will no doubt be asked about that by reporters on Thursday but he will also be asked to account for his time in charge of the SDLP.

Bar a brief chink of electoral light in the 2019 Westminster election, the party struggled to cut through in almost every election while he was in charge - and there were plenty of them in the past nine years.

Can Mr Eastwood truly say that he has left the party in better shape than when he inherited it, and what advice will he have for his eventual replacement who faces the same unenviable task?