DUP launches Assembly election manifesto

The DUP has launched its Assembly election manifesto.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said the party was standing by last year’s pledges to prioritise spending on health, create more jobs, protect family budgets, raise standards in education for everyone and invest in infrastructure.

Mrs Foster added that her party’s manifesto now also includes 10 commitments for any negotiations after the election.

These include refusing to allow what it says is "the persecution of the security forces".

“Whilst we have always regarded the present arrangements as transitional to a more normal form of democracy, we are prepared to continue to work in the present structures,” she said at Monday's launch in east Belfast.

“However if Sinn Féin are putting more fundamental changes on the agenda, let’s be very clear, we will be very happy to table our own long list of demands as well.”

Setting out her second party manifesto in less than a year - the DUP leader took less than a minute to mention Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and went on to do so another 11 times.

Drawing their battle lines, the DUP’s 2017 manifesto adds some new key points to last year's document, including the party's stance on the process for leaving the EU as well as its starting point for any post-election negotiations.