SDLP choose Polland for Westminster battle

12 June 2024

STRANGFORD SDLP Westminster election candidate Will Polland advocates championing against austerity politics, raising local issues at the seat of government in London and supporting a New Ireland.

The 21 year-old from Killyleagh stood for the SDLP in Slieve Croob at last year’s council elections and says he is ‘embedded’ in the local community. Until recently, his family owned the Central Bar in the town.

Mr Polland believes his background will be an asset to the Strangford constituency if elected. He has been active in the constituency since 2022 when he helped manage the Assembly election campaign for his party colleague, Conor Houston.

He believes the campaign allowed him to become more involved with the peninsula side of the constituency.

Mr Polland is a former pupil of St Mary’s Primary School in Killyleagh and Lagan College.

“As Northern Ireland’s first integrated school, I believe the college has played a fundamental role in shaping my politics,” said Mr Polland, who graduates in Law and Politics from Queen’s University the day before the July 4 election.

“The more integrated schools and education that we have, the closer we will get to seeing a reconciled society.”

Mr Polland completed work experience with Claire Hanna MP when he was in his early teens and said that watching people’s lives change as a result of politics ignited his interest in wanting to be a part of that.

The Strangford candidate aims to highlight and address what he described as the “drastic rural poverty and chronic underinvestment” across the constituency.

If elected, he says he is keen to facilitate a conversation with the constituency about the future of Northern Ireland.

Mr Polland added: “I want to provide a voice that isn’t disrespectful to anyone’s views or traditions but, instead, inclusive of people’s

fears, concerns and hopes for the future of this island, whether that is in the Union or building a New Ireland.”

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