Alliance Party: Government ‘storing up crises’ if no Stormont reform

Mrs Long added that her party had won the intellectual argument for reform, and that the Irish government was already supportive of changes.

“If other parties have better proposals let’s see them but we need to end this cycle of crisis and collapse,” she added.

She also said that the upcoming election was “not just a chance to rid ourselves of the current government but to hold to account local parties who supported worst excesses of the Conservative government and their most corrosive policies”.

“People are yearning for a change for better public services and investment in their future,” she added.

Mrs Long also said she was not urging people to vote tactically next month, but said voters should choose whoever they felt would best represent them at Westminster.

In the last assembly election, Alliance secured its best ever result and gained 9 seats, making it the third largest party in Northern Ireland.