MPs elected tomorrow will decide our future relationship with Europe, says Long

The MPs elected in tomorrow’s election will decide our future relationship with Europe, Alliance Leader Naomi Long has said.

Mrs Long, the party’s East Belfast candidate, said it was also a chance for voters to send a message they have had enough of the Stormont stand-off between the DUP and Sinn Féin, and urged people to “vote for hope, not fear”.

“People are angry, they’re concerned and they’re frustrated at the paralysing of our politics here over the past few years. Alliance knows that because we feel the same. We have put potential solutions on the table to the Stormont stand-off but still the DUP and Sinn Féin are preventing an Executive being formed and Ministers being appointed to deal with the range of crises we are experiencing,” she said.

“This election is an opportunity for people to come together and send a message to those parties, in order to show they are demanding better. Alliance knows better is possible and we have proven when people come together, change can happen.

“Part of that is fighting the devastation Brexit will bring, particularly a devastating no deal. Alliance has always been clear there is no such thing as a good or sensible Brexit. The DUP, in their partnership with the Tories, have backed a hard Brexit and in doing so risked plunging the economy into chaos and wrecking the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin, meanwhile, will not even turn up to vote against it.

“Brexit is not a green or orange issue and Alliance is not a green or orange party. That’s why Alliance is best placed to unite people across the community again – as we did in May where more Alliance Councillors were elected in more areas than ever before, and when the first Alliance MEP was elected – and show our united opposition to it.

“I want people to vote for hope, not for fear. If you are angry, concerned or frustrated – if you have had enough of Brexit and talk of a hard border, of a dormant Stormont, of the politics of division and deadlock, and if you believe like we do that better is possible. Then channel those feelings and tomorrow, demand better and vote Alliance.”