Alliance Party Manifesto: Analysis of key policies

Updated 3 hours ago

The Alliance Party has published its election manifesto for 2024, which sets out the party’s plans for the future.

At the last Westminster election in 2019, the Alliance secured one seat when deputy leader Stephen Farry won in North Down.

The party is competing in the upcoming elections in all 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland.

These are some of the Alliance’s key policies.

The Alliance Party has made reforming Northern Ireland’s devolved government institutions one of its main missions in recent years.

This was once again strongly emphasized in the Westminster election manifesto, which included a number of proposals that he believed would make structures more stable.

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement largely ended decades of brutal conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles and ushered in a new system of mandatory power-sharing between unionists and nationalists.

However, the Northern Ireland executive and assembly were far from perfect, with institutions failing repeatedly over the years.

The alliance, which does not take a position on constitutional issues, says it will end “ransom politics” by preventing larger trade union and nationalist parties from vetoing the establishment of the institution.

Its proposals include replacing the Assembly’s inter-communal voting system on controversial issues with a weighted majority system.

The alliance also wants to change the names of the first minister and deputy first minister to “joint first ministers” to reflect the equivalent nature of their office.

But can the Alliance deliver these changes?

Stormont’s two largest parties, Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), have shown no interest in pushing for institutional reform at this stage.

The UK government was also reluctant to intervene without a consensus among the main parties at Stormont on the way forward.

The Alliance, the third-largest party in the assembly, says reforms can be delivered from Westminster.

But a handful of Northern Ireland MPs bringing about change in the 650-seat House of Commons could be a difficult challenge.

Integrated education – teaching Catholic and Protestant children together – has long been a weakness in the education system in Northern Ireland.

However, it is easy to understand why the Alliance, with its cross-community ethos, wants to change this.

The manifesto, which includes a commitment to ring-fence funding for the project, comes in response to the UK Government’s decision to redirect £150 million from 10 integrated school projects into a £3.3 billion pot promised by Westminster to help Stormont get back up and running after a two-year DUP boycott.

This will require the support of the DUP and Sinn Féin, who must also be mindful of the pressure from the powerful maintained (Catholic) and controlled (state) education sectors.

Finding a balance on ecological issues is not easy, and the Alliance’s manifesto contains many political promises in this area.

It is focused on achieving net zero carbon emissions. The alliance says it will demand the “most ambitious and fairest path” to net zero.

The manifesto outlines the Alliance’s plans to achieve net zero emissions by taxing the “super-rich” and “fossil fuel giants”, which it claims will help end fuel poverty.

With the party’s Andrew Muir currently leading the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) at Stormont, it is important that the party does not exclude the agricultural side of its remit.

And farmers are indeed mentioned – the manifesto says that the Alliance will call for fairer trading practices for farmers by strengthening the powers of the Food Code arbitrator.

It also says the Alliance will provide “adequate funding” for agriculture, rural affairs and fisheries to move to net zero.

It adds that the party will “maintain net zero targets and oppose the destructive policy rollbacks from the Conservative government.”

This will include the revocation of new oil and gas licenses. The manifesto also states that the Alliance will end the use of fossil fuels and ban fracking. It plans to replace the use of fossil fuels with renewable energy.

The Northern Ireland authorities have already started preparatory work in this regard.

Last month, the Commission and the UK Government agreed to review the way public services are funded in Northern Ireland.

This will mean Northern Ireland will receive a “needs-based” top-up to its normal allocations.

The agreement also means Stormont will not face a financial “cliff” in 2026 when one-off funding from the £3 billion recovery of devolution funding package runs out.

The executive has been given assurances it will be funded “as needed” in 2026, but how much this will amount to will not be clear until the next government conducts a UK-wide spending review.

Public spending per head in Northern Ireland is higher than in England because it costs more to provide public services of an equivalent standard to a smaller population.

Independent experts from the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council have estimated that Northern Ireland needs around £124 per head for every £100 per person spent in England.

The government has agreed to increase all allocated funding by 24% to return to estimated levels of need.

It also committed to reviewing the size of the top-up if credible independent analysis shows it should exceed 24%.

The director wants Stormont’s budget to be given a new baseline that will bring it back to where it needs to be in one fell swoop.

This recognition will only come in the context of the UK spending review, which is expected to take place shortly after the general election.

There is no surprise in this policy as it is something the Alliance has favored in previous manifestos and has also pushed at local government level.

The Alliance has always been keen to ensure that 16 and 17-year-olds can fully participate in democracy and would like to see the extension of voting rights similar to that in Wales and Scotland.

The motion to lower the voting age was supported by the Alliance and passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2012.

However, this motion merely indicated the views of the Assembly – it does not change the law as this remains the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).

When it comes to this particular temperature indicator, it looks set to be an uphill battle, as last year the NIO Minister rejected the Northern Ireland Council’s collective demand to lower the voting age to 16.

Steve Baker has said the UK government has no plans to lower the parliamentary age because it was elected on a manifesto pledge to keep the current voting age at 18.

It’s always a good idea to make a commitment that you know others will keep, and then sit down and apply for a loan.

This appears to be the case with the Alliance’s pledge to push for improved relations with Brussels in the hope of reaching an agreement that will help reduce controls on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

If the polls are correct, the next government will be formed by the Labor Party, and Sir Keir Starmer has already announced improved relations with the EU.

This has already been well received in Brussels

The Labor leader has unveiled a five-point plan which includes a veterinary agreement aimed at “eliminating most border checks on agricultural products between the UK and the EU”.

He also promised to introduce a system allowing low-risk goods to enter Northern Ireland without “unnecessary checks”.

So the changes the Alliance is demanding will already be made if Labor takes control.

However, the party will be actively involved in the process not at Westminster but at Stormont, where its Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir will oversee some of the proposed changes.