The decision by the British Labour Party to accept members from Northern Ireland was inevitable.
Excluding any section of the population from belonging to the political party of their choice had become legally and morally unsustainable.
However, Labour officials would need to think long and hard before committing themselves to actually fielding candidates at forthcoming elections in Northern Ireland.
Quite apart from the close links between Labour and the SDLP, the historical precedents are not encouraging.
Northern Ireland previously had a relatively successful and broadly based Labour Party, which, even though it contained a range of gifted individuals in its ranks, went into a sharp decline after the introduction of direct rule in 1972 and was effectively defunct within a decade.
Attempts by the Conservatives to organise in Northern Ireland in the 1980s initially met with some limited success, but, within a fairly short period of time, the party had also disappeared from view.
The centre ground in Northern Ireland politics is already an overcrowded place, and the prospects of Labour candidates making a significant impact there are slim.
Nationalists would be likely to have little interest in supporting a London-based party, while unionists would view its former 'Troops Out' associations with grave suspicion.
An electoral intervention by Labour represents an intriguing talking point but, barring a dramatic change of circumstances, is hardly a serious proposition.
