91�ȱ�

Thank you for following our live coverage of Alliance leader Naomi Long's speech to her party conference in Belfast.

You can read more about the speech here.

Mark Carruthers will interview Mrs Long on tomorrow's Sunday Politics. You can watch that at 10:00 GMT on 91�ȱ� One Northern Ireland and iPlayer.

91�ȱ� News NI political correspondent

Alliance is undoubtedly a party buoyed by recent electoral successes.

On arrival at the Stormont Hotel - the regular haunt for their conferences - a senior party member told me this would likely be their last year here due to outgrowing the space.

But winning votes is one thing, on their promises of change they now face the immediate challenge of following through.

And there’s the dynamic of seeking significant changes to Stormont’s structures while operating from within them.

Would they have been better off in opposition in order to legitimately make that case? Not so insists the Alliance leader.

But demanding reform and actually delivering it are two very different things - and it’s not those inside the conference room that the party still need to persuade.

The Alliance leader launches a blistering attack on Rishi Sunak's government. She then tells her delegates that "the only thing this morally bankrupt government can do to protect democracy now is to call a general election. And the sooner the better."

The next general election must be held by 28 January 2025. Naomi Long previously served as MP for East Belfast. She has yet to confirm if she will stand in the upcoming election.

The party leader criticises the Conservative government. "For years we have expressed our concern about the dog whistle politics of punching down on the marginalized and vulnerable to win votes."

She goes on to say "under this government, however, it’s no longer a dog whistle – it’s a blaring siren, playing to the basest prejudices and fears: pitting the weak against the weaker, the poor against the poorer, the marginalized against the more marginalized, and all in a contrived moral panic and fury orchestrated by the entitled, the privileged, the elite in an increasingly desperate attempt to cling to power".

Mrs Long tells her party delegates that "that public services in Northern Ireland need transformation and modernisation'". She warns them it won’t always be easy, "but it is essential if we are to put our public services and our finances on a sustainable footing, capable of meeting the needs of our people".

"I believe this pressing need for transformation is the biggest challenge faced by the Executive", she adds.

Talking about her role as Justice Minister she describes the justice system as being "disproportionately underfunded compared to other departments" which is further compounded by the fact that "more people fall through the gaps in service elsewhere in the system."

She says her aims are to modernise the justice system, reforming sentencing and protecting victims but that court delays, full prisons and dwindling police numbers are making that difficult calling for more investment in those services.

The Alliance Leader says her party's proposals for reform are consistent with the principles of the Good Friday Agreement while addressing "the inherent instability and inequalities of the structures" and removing "the right of any one party to deny the people of Northern Ireland a government."

Naomi Long called on the Secretary of State, Chris Heaton-Harris to "do some heavy lifting on reform of the institutions, sooner rather than later", saying she wanted "the last collapse to be the last collapse" so that the new mandate could look forward with optimism. She asked why neither the First of deputy First Minister would give a firm commitment to not collapse the Executive again in future.

And warning about the consequences of the years without government, Naomi Long says the true cost can be seen in "obscene health waiting lists, in our failure to deliver capital investment and economic growth, and in our creaking education system."

Naomi Long begins her speech by thanking delegates for their efforts in last year’s local government election. She points to a 25% increase in the number of councillors and the party’s strength on a number of councils across Northern Ireland.

‘There were many, many other Alliance success right across Northern Ireland – so much so, if I mentioned every individual one, it would take up the remainder of my speech – but the real win is for people who have Alliance representatives.’

You can watch Naomi Long’s conference speech by hitting the play icon at the top of this page. She's due to speak in the next few minutes.

This is the Alliance Party’s first conference since power-sharing was restored at Stormont last month.

Naomi Long is expected to call on the Secretary of State to do the “heavy lifting” to reform the institutions. She will tell members that stalling on this issue will have “real world consequences”.

At the Belfast conference Mrs Long will say she is "always conscious of the threat of another collapse" of the institutions, and tinkering around the edges of reform will be "merely a sticking plaster" that will not hold.

A lifelong resident of east Belfast she became leader of the Alliance party in 2016.

She started her political life in Belfast City Council, as a councillor in 2001. In 2003 she was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as MLA for East Belfast. She became the first Alliance MP elected to Westminster when she won the East Belfast seat in 2010.

In May 2016, Naomi returned to the Northern Ireland Assembly as MLA for East Belfast, before becoming leader of Alliance that October. The 2022 Assembly election saw the party’s representation more than double. She took on the post of Minister for Justice when the Assembly returned in February 2024, having previously served as Justice Minister from January 2020 to October 2022.

Good morning. Welcome to our live coverage of Naomi Long's conference speech. You will be able to watch it by pressing the play button at the top of this page.