The SDLP has selected Councillor Adam Gannon to contest the Westminster election in Fermanagh South Tyrone.

Speaking after he was chosen as the party’s candidate, Councillor Gannon said that people in Fermanagh South Tyrone deserve more than an empty seat while Brexit threatens jobs, businesses and communities at the border.

“Brexit is a national emergency. It threatens people, jobs and businesses across this island, but particularly in communities like ours where travelling across the border for work, to visit family or just to get where you need to be is an everyday fact of life," said the Erne West councillor.

“We have spent three years talking about the threats to jobs, livelihoods and border communities. That’s time we should have spent talking about how we attract new investment and create new jobs. It’s time we should have spent creating a robust plan to protect our natural environment from profiteers. It’s time we should have spent addressing the legacy of conflict and the mental health crisis in homes and communities across our rural communities.

“We should be setting the agenda. Instead, our destiny is being decided by MPs in Enfield and Kensington while people in Enniskillen and Kesh have no say.

“This is a defining election. It is a moment of choice and a moment for change. I am not content to continue with the direction of travel. I will not sit idly by as our interests are undermined. Brexit can be stopped at Westminster. SDLP MPs will vote to stop Brexit."