Foyle.

Colum Eastwood's most significant recent act was voting to refer Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee over allegations that Starmer misled Parliament on Peter Mandelson's appointment as US Ambassador -- a pointed move against the Labour government from the SDLP benches. He also sided with the Lords on Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill amendments, pushing back against the government's preferred text. As SDLP leader, he is not a rebel in the conventional sense -- he votes with his own party 100% of the time -- but his party operates independently of Labour, leaving him free to hold the government to account.

Beyond Westminster votes, Eastwood has been visible in local news over healthcare failures in Derry. He raised the alarm over Royal Mail postal delays causing Derry patients to be wrongly removed from NHS waiting lists, writing to ministers at both Stormont and Westminster. His 30 speeches across 18 debates in recent months have focused heavily on defence, crime, health, and social care. His voting record skews strongly pro-workers' rights, pro-public-ownership, and pro-welfare-expansion, while sitting well below the Commons average on parliamentary scrutiny measures.

His participation rate of 33% -- voting in roughly one in three divisions -- reflects a pattern common among Northern Ireland MPs, who frequently abstain on England-only or devolved matters where their constituents have no direct stake. He sits on no select committees, which limits his formal scrutiny role. Local news coverage over the past 90 days runs to over 100 articles, with health, crime, and violence against women the dominant issues, suggesting a constituency with acute public-service pressures that Eastwood is actively, if not always visibly, engaging with at Westminster.