It's time for the tribes to build unity, says Ford

David Ford confesses that life in the Alliance party sometimes feels like operating a life-support machine as it tries to prevent the North's institutions from flat-lining at times of crisis.

Alliance has sacrificed much in the last five years. It didn't put up candidates in some constituencies during the 2001 Westminster elections in order to help the Ulster Unionists and SDLP win marginal seats.

It has also taken risks. It temporarily redesignated itself as a unionist party in the assembly in order to open the way for the election of David Trimble and Mark Durkan as first and deputy first ministers.

But thus far and no farther, says the Aliiance leader, with a note of frustration in his voice. "Fundamentally, we can't live with a system that rewards people for staying in tribal camps, and that's why we are now saying the review has to deal with sectarian designations so we can start to built unity and not division.

"We're encouraging them to move together, but they'll only do so if there is a strong Alliance block," Mr Ford says.

And that's the Alliance party's problem. On occasion, since its foundation in 1970, it has threatened to rival the big four "problem parties", as it terms them, but has never made the breakthrough.

This time it is hopeful of increasing its representation, although most observers agree it will be doing well to hold on to its existing seats.

"At the one level it is a disappointment that we're still a fifth party in a four-party system," the leader says.

"However, if we had 50 more votes in one constituency last time and a better balance with our 500 spare votes in another constituency, we'd have had two more seats and a minister in the executive. That's how close we were to playing a key role in the centre."

He also plays down the likelihood of the DUP becoming the biggest voice in unionism. However, even if it does, he doesn't foresee it as an apocalyptic development for political progress in the North.

A mantra from the Alliance is also a return to "bread-and-butter" issues such as health, education and transport. Yet its 24-page manifesto does not contain costings or concrete breakdowns of ambitious pledges such as free personal care for older people and the abolition of college fees.

"They are more than aspirations. What we have done is preliminary work on the current costs of segregation. Literally, we have identified hundreds of millions of pounds spent on maintaining separate facilities. If we overcame some of this, we'd have money to reallocate into the public services," Mr Ford says.