It’s 25 years since Naomi Long was first elected as a councillor in Belfast, and ten years since she became Alliance leader.

Notwithstanding the 2015 loss of the East Belfast Westminster seat she took from Peter Robinson five years previous, her political trajectory has generally been upward and even included a truncated stint as an MEP.

Under Mrs Long’s leadership Alliance has enjoyed unprecedented electoral success, leapfrogging the Ulster Unionists and SDLP to become the Assembly’s third-biggest party. In the 2024 general election, Alliance lost and gained a seat while securing a respectable 15% of the vote. For a party that at one stage was on the verge of an existential crisis, it represents a notable turnaround in fortunes.

Yet polling suggests the surge that saw Alliance effectively double its Stormont contingent has peaked and the best the party can expect from next year’s Assembly election is to hold what it currently........

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