The farming industry is key to our rural economy and I pledge to restore it to its rightful place.

I will work tirelessly towards reinstating the good relationship that once existed between Europe and our farming families.

Top of my list of priorities will be the protection and strengthening of our Less Favoured Areas.

And I promise to be a strong and trusted voice for your needs during negotiations of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Using the SDLP's track record of delivery I will play my part in addressing the issue of Farm Gate Prices being less than the cost of production.

And I want to bring an end to the practice of allowing inferior imported goods entering the EU food chain without traceability records.

This will allow consumers the opportunity to buy our high quality products.

As member of the Party of European Socialists we will bring your interests to the very heart of the decision making process.

For five years farmers have lost out for Europe without the SDLP.

And Europe worked best for farmers when there was an SDLP representation in the European Parliament. It is time for us all to win again.

This election is taking place against the backdrop of a global economic and financial crisis.

Firms and families across the North and Europe are feeling the strain.

Wages are being undermined and the cost of living is soaring.

But the SDLP will not stand idly by and watch this happen.

More must be done to reform the financial markets, counteract the recession and relaunch the economy to create new growth and jobs.

We must use Europe as a platform for decisive intervention, concerted investment, radical action and international financial regulation.

European responses and international measures are needed if we are to have financial stability and economic growth for the years ahead.

As a member of the Party of European Socialists, the SDLP will fight to restore the economic voice of the North in Europe and to ensure steps are taken to fight the recession and mass unemployment.

We will push a new strong recovery plan with coordinated investment in jobs and green growth.

And promote a European Employment Pact to safeguard employment, create new and better jobs, and strengthen workers' rights, conditions and pay.

Fundamental social rights must be ensured - including free collective bargaining, trade union rights

Free movement of labour, including posting of workers, must be based on the principle of equal pay and equal working conditions for equal work in the same workplace.

Therefore, a Social Progress Pact is required to tackle the full social consequences of the crisis, preventing a rise in poverty, inequality and exclusion.

And finally we need an urgent, common European roadmap for a global new deal, to be agreed at the G20 before the end of 2009.

This is about coordinated action for new jobs on the planet, global regulation of financial markets, a global climate deal, and aid to developing countries.

The Party of European Socialists has been at the forefront in developing a progressive global strategy to combat climate change.

Through our membership of the PES, the SDLP will continue to give political direction to enable the North to emerge as a leader among these islands in implementing a climate policy that goes hand in hand with economic policy.

We want to boost our economy through the use of more energy efficient technologies in our communities, at home and at work. Efficient public transport and intelligent design and construction of homes, public buildings and workplaces can all help avoid wasteful energy consumption.

Key over the next Parliamentary term will be ensuring Ireland, north and south, lives up to its environmental commitments and obligations and can reap the rewards of a clean, green environment.

The SDLP will work to better integrate health and environment policies to ensure that local communities and the wider environment in which we live are health-promoting and environmentally sustainable.

EU cutbacks in days at sea and quota reductions in cod demonstrate how local fishermen need strong representation in Brussels to protect this industry from ill-advised thinking.

We will work to find solutions that restore the worst-off stocks and at the same time, guarantee that fish can continue to be a reliable source of revenue for local fishermen.

Creating lifelong learning opportunities is one way of providing a future for fishermen, but we will demand a long term, holistic response that ensures a simple and sustainable system for managing our fisheries that can last well into the 21st century.