Hanna to step down from assembly

Carmel Hanna is stepping down from the assembly

Carmel Hanna, the SDLP MLA for South Belfast, is expected to retire from the assembly within the next few months.

She will step down after 9 December when the SDLP selects a successor.

Under assembly rules, MLAs can be replaced by party appointment, rather than in a by-election. It is understood two people are seeking selection.

One is Conall McDevitt, a former party director of communications, and the other is Belfast councillor Bernie Kelly, a former deputy lord mayor.

Mrs Hanna, a member of the SDLP since 1972, was first elected to the assembly in 1998.

A mother-of-four, she has been a long-serving member of the health committee and is a former minister.

She stood down as a Belfast city councillor last year to focus on the assembly.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said: "Carmel Hanna has served her constituents of South Belfast, the people of Northern Ireland and the wider SDLP with dignity, determination and dedication during a distinguished political career as a councillor, assembly member and as a minister."