How much weight do NI parties’ Westminster manifestos carry?

On one side unionists, who want to keep the union with Great Britain; on the other nationalists, who would prefer to see Northern Ireland joining with the Republic of Ireland.

And in the middle, as it were, the centrist Alliance party, who don’t take a position on the constitutional matter and define themselves as a cross-community party. In Assembly elections, they have grown to become the third largest party.

It’s a very different political landscape from the rest of the UK and Northern Ireland’s 18 MPs have no real power at Westminster.

By comparison, London alone elects 73 MPs to the House of Commons.

Added to the mix one of the NI parties – Sinn Féin – does not take any Westminster seats it is elected to.

The party has always held a policy of abstentionism when it comes to the House of Commons.

There has been one small exception to the rule that NI parties generally do not have a huge influence on Westminster politics.

You may remember the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) propping up Theresa May’s government with a confidence-and-supply arrangement seven years ago.