Alliance leader says Stormont role 'should not be taken for granted'

Alliance leader Naomi Long has warned that her party's role in the Northern Ireland Executive "should not be taken for granted".

Their continued participation in Stormont's power-sharing government remains a "balance", she told her party's annual conference in Belfast.

Long said Alliance will "take a different course" if efforts to deliver key priorities in the four-party coalition are "frustrated by heel-dragging".

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham was among the guests who addressed the conference on Saturday, which had the slogan of "hope not fear".

Long has led Alliance for nearly 10 years and also serves as justice minister in Northern Ireland's devolved government.

She is one of two Alliance ministers in the Stormont executive and her party is the third-largest in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In her conference speech, Long is said that politics locally and globally is increasingly "defined by fear".

She claimed that other parties seek to "distract from their poor record of delivery by keeping people afraid and divided".

Long said Alliance "is interested in what we can build together instead" and that "our future should be built on hope, not fear".

The conference this weekend is Alliance's third since devolution was restored in February 2024 following a two-year hiatus.

The institutions had been blocked by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in protest over post-Brexit trade rules, but they ended their boycott after a deal with the UK government.

Long argued that "making government work" is important "not because it is easy, but because it matters".

The Alliance leader said "hope in our politics as a force for good will be built through delivery" but that her party's "participation in those institutions is based on that balance".

"If we reach a point where our ability to deliver on key priorities is either stymied by vetoes and frustrated by heel-dragging, then rest assured, we would take a different course.

"Our continued participation in the executive cannot and should not be taken for granted."

Burnham has been tipped as a possible contender to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister.

He told the conference it was "code-red for Westminster" as he called for institutional reform to better represent issues affecting the UK's nations and regions.

"The UK political system hasn't worked for the north-west of England, and it hasn't worked for Northern Ireland."

He said that "big change is needed" and that "if we are to get it, then it will require us to join forces".

"When people are giving up on politics, we are in dangerous territory. It is code-red for Westminster," he added.

Before the conference, the Labour mayor met members of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), including leader Claire Hanna.