Alliance leader Naomi Long urges DUP to enter Northern Ireland Executive

The Alliance Party leader has urged the DUP to "step up to the plate" and enter a new Stormont Executive.

Naomi Long led her new enlarged team to Assembly buildings on Monday morning, telling media they were there for work.

"As promised in the election campaign we're here on Monday morning on day one ready to start delivering for the people of Northern Ireland," she told media in the Great Hall at Stormont.

"I want us to sit down, get the negotiations under way on the programme for government and the budget, and I want to see us getting government up and running as quickly as possible.

"We're going to see a functioning Assembly hopefully pretty soon, that will be the easier part of all of this, but to get a functioning Executive we need the DUP to step up to the plate. With power comes responsibility, and people now need to take the responsibility seriously.

"I think the DUP need to reflect on their mishandling of Brexit, on the fact they had huge influence at Westminster and overplayed their hand.

"It would be foolhardy for them to overplay their hand with devolution because that is a gamble that Northern Ireland can't afford to take." 'Unionism is still the largest designation' - Arlene Foster

Secretary of State visits Northern Ireland to meet Stormont parties

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