6 days ago
By Brendan Hughes, BBC News NI political reporter
PA
The leader of the Alliance Party is running against the leader of the DUP in east Belfast
The Alliance Party has launched its 2024 election manifesto, setting out the party’s plans going forward.
At the last Westminster election in 2019, Alliance secured one seat when deputy leader Stephen Farry won in North Down.
The party is contesting all of Northern Ireland’s 18 constituencies in the upcoming election.
Here are some of Alliance’s key policies.
Reforming the political institutions to ‘end ransom politics’
The Alliance Party has made reform of Northern Ireland’s devolved government institutions one of its central missions in recent years.
And this is once again featured heavily in its Westminster election manifesto, with a host of proposals it believes would make the structures more stable.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement largely ended decades of violent conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles, and ushered in a new system of mandatory power sharing between unionists and nationalists.
But the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly have been far from perfect, with the institutions collapsing multiple times over the years.
Alliance, which does not take a position on the constitutional question, says it would end “ransom politics” by preventing the larger unionist and nationalist parties from vetoing the establishment of the institutions.
Its proposals include replacing the assembly’s system of cross-community voting on contentious issues with a weighted majority system.
Alliance also wants to change the names of the first minister and deputy first minister to “joint first ministers” to reflect the co-equal nature of their office.
But can Alliance deliver these changes?
Stormont’s two largest parties, Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), have so far shown little interest in pressing for reform of the institutions at this stage.
And the UK government has also been reluctant to intervene without consensus from the main Stormont parties on a way forward.
Alliance, which is the third-largest party in the assembly, argues that reform can be advanced from Westminster.
But a handful of Northern Ireland MPs bringing about change in a 650-seat House of Commons could be an uphill struggle.
Securing dedicated funding for integrated educationPA
Alliance is promising to ring-fence funding for integrated education
Integrated education – schooling Catholic and Protestant children together – has long been the poor relation of Northern Ireland’s education system.
But it’s easy to see why Alliance with its cross-community ethos wants that to change.
The manifesto pledge to ring-fence funding for it is a response to the UK government’s decision to redirect £150m from 10 integrated school projects into the £3.3bn pot promised by Westminster to help get Stormont working again after the DUP’s two-year boycott.
It will require buy-in from the DUP and Sinn Féin, both of whom must also be mindful of pressure coming from the powerful maintained (Catholic) and controlled (state) education sectors.
Creating a Green New Deal to decarbonise our economy
Striking a balance on green issues isn’t easy and the Alliance manifesto has plenty of policy promises in that area.
There is a focus on the delivery of net-zero carbon emissions. Alliance says it will demand “the most ambitious and just path possible” to net zero.
The manifesto outlines Alliance’s plans to deliver net zero by taxing the “super rich” and the “fossil fuel giants”, which it says will help end fuel poverty.
With the party’s Andrew Muir now heading up the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Stormont it is important the party doesn’t alienate the agricultural side of his brief.
And farmers do get a mention – the manifesto says Alliance will call for fairer trading practices for farmers by strengthening the powers of the Grocery Code Adjudicator.
It also says Alliance will ensure “adequate funding” for agriculture, rural affairs and fisheries to transition to net zero.
It adds the party will be “upholding net-zero goals and opposing destructive policy rollbacks from the Conservative government”.
That will include reversing new oil and gas licences. The manifesto also outlines that Alliance will end the use of fossil fuels and ban fracking. It plans to replace the use of fossil fuels with renewable energy.
Delivering an improved financial settlement for NI
The groundwork for this has already been started by the Northern Ireland Executive.
Last month, it and the UK government agreed to review how Northern Ireland public services are funded.
It will mean Northern Ireland gets a “needs-based” top-up to its normal funding allocations.
The agreement also means that Stormont will not face a financial “cliff edge” in 2026 when one-off funding from the £3bn devolution restoration funding package runs out.
The executive has received an assurance it will be funded “at need” in 2026 but what that amounts to will not be clear until the next government carries out a UK-wide spending review.
Public spending per head in Northern Ireland is higher than in England, as it costs more to deliver public services of an equivalent standard to a smaller population.
Independent experts on the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council have estimated that Northern Ireland needs about £124 per head for every £100 per head spent in England.
The government has agreed to top up any funding allocations by 24% as a way to get back to the assessed level of need.
It has also committed to review the size of the top up if credible independent analysis makes the case that it should be higher than 24%.
The executive wants the Stormont budget to be given a new baseline, which will take it back to the level of need in one jump.
There is an acknowledgment that would only happen in the context of a UK spending review, which is due to happen shortly after the general election.
Lowering the voting age to 16
There is no surprise in this policy as it’s something that Alliance favoured in previous manifesto launches and has pushed at local council level too.
Alliance have always been keen to get 16 and 17 year olds to fully participate in democracy and would like to see an extension of voting rights similar to that in Wales and Scotland.
A motion on the issue of lowering the voting age was supported by Alliance and passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2012.
However, this motion merely indicated the opinions at the assembly – it does not change the law as that remains the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).
On that particular temperature gauge, it looks to be an uphill battle as last year an NIO minister rejected a collective Northern Ireland council demand to lower the voting age to 16.
Steve Baker said the UK government had no plans to lower the age, having been elected on a manifesto commitment to maintain the current franchise at 18.
Repairing the UK-EU relationship and negotiating a veterinary agreement
It is always a good plan to make a pledge you know others will deliver and then sit back and claim some credit.
That appears to be the case with this promise by Alliance to push for improved relations with Brussels in the hope of securing a deal to help reduce checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea.
If the polls are right, Labour will form the next government and Sir Keir Starmer has already pledged to improve relations with the EU.
That has already gone down well in Brussels
The Labour leader has set out a five-point plan, which includes a veterinary agreement to “eliminate most border checks on agri-products between the UK and EU”.
He has also promised to put in place a system to allow low-risk goods to enter Northern Ireland without “unnecessary checks”.
So the changes Alliance is demanding are already baked in if Labour takes charge.
But the party will have an active hand in the process not at Westminster but at Stormont, where its Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir will oversee some of the proposed changes.
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved administration but is known locally as Stormont, after its location in east Belfast.
Westminster also has control over issues which affect the UK as a whole, known as reserved or excepted matters.
Stormont is responsible for a range of issues which mainly cover every day life within Northern Ireland, including agriculture, education, the economy, finance, health and infrastructure.
