The classic cliche about the Alliance Party is that it sits on the fence. This trite insult fails to grasp what an achievement it is to carve out and hold a space in Northern Ireland’s centre ground. A more apt metaphor would be walking a tightrope, although that is still too simplistic. Alliance’s balancing act extends beyond constitutional agnosticism to finessing issues that serve as proxies for community divides. It left the liberalisation of abortion to a conscience vote, for example, and is currently manoeuvring itself to be both for and against transgender medicine. I mean no sarcasm in praising this pragmatism. Political parties across the world could learn from Alliance’s ability to play the middle off against both sides.
Yet none of this has stopped it falling off the rope over Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements. There are times when it looks less like a fall than a deliberate jump. Either way, Alliance has made the mistake it so carefully avoided throughout most of its half-century of existence: on a divisive constitutional issue, it appears to have picked a side.
The party would dispute this, of course. On paper, its position is exactly where it should be, somewhere between the UUP and the SDLP, both parties that opposed Brexit and have taken a realistic stance on minimising the damage. The SDLP believes the Windsor Framework, as the Northern Ireland Protocol has been rebranded, is a necessary compromise with room for improvement. The UUP believes the framework is “an important stepping stone” to a better arrangement – a closer UK-EU trade deal that renders most of it redundant.
Alliance has specified closer ties should start with adopting EU rules on agri-food and ideally end with Northern Ireland rejoining the EU, be that as part of the UK or a united Ireland. There are enough unionist rejoiners to fill the centre ground: half of UUP supporters would vote to reverse Brexit, according to a February 2024 opinion poll, as would 15 per cent of DUP voters. Alliance tells unhappy unionists to blame the Windsor Framework on the DUP and the Conservatives – hardly contentious, as every other unionist and nationalist party does the same.
Where Alliance loses its balance is partly a matter of tone. There is an enormous difference between holding the DUP to account and telling unionist Brexit supporters they got what they deserved. It often feels as if Alliance forgets to highlight that distinction. Any sense of impatience with unionism’s misfortune is likely to cause some annoyance across the unionist population, including among rejoiners and Alliance voters.
This all flows from Alliance’s fundamental reluctance to criticise the EU.
“Alliance has always been a strongly pro-European party,” as leader Naomi Long said last month, in advance of a key Stormont vote on the Windsor Framework.
Brexit has turned that easy consensus of the past into an overbearing conviction.
[ Stormont votes to retain some EU trade laws post-Brexit for Northern IrelandOpens in new window ]
Three weeks ago, a raft of EU product safety regulations came into force in Northern Ireland. Online shopping will be noticeably affected, an issue known to aggravate the public. One story always captures the absurdity of new sea border rules, and in this case it was a craft business in Dungannon unable to download knitting patterns from Britain. Even supplying digital products to Northern Ireland is now a criminal offence without an EU agent. The full imposition of these regulations is ludicrous, unnecessary and irresponsible.
Unionist parties can point this out but Alliance pulls its punches when faced with EU requirements that are at best daft and at worst vindictive. Sinn Féin and the SDLP have a contradiction in their position. Both hail the illusory advantages of Northern Ireland’s dual-market access, while aspiring to end it with a united Ireland. However, the nationalist electorate can clearly cope with this dichotomy. What matters is that Sinn Féin and the SDLP can say unification will ultimately fix everything. Alliance cannot say this, which annoys some of its nationalist-background supporters. So Brexit is remorselessly driving a wedge into its electoral coalition.
Evidence can be found in the party’s slowly declining support since its vote suddenly doubled in 2019, a reaction to the collapse of devolution, rather than to Brexit. The loss of its new North Down Westminster seat last year was a landmark moment. The wealthy, liberal constituency should have become an Alliance heartland but the party’s pro-EU stance appears to have antagonised the overwhelmingly unionist population.
[ Independent unionist Alex Easton secures ‘wow’ moment in North DownOpens in new window ]
Alliance holds the balance of power at Stormont, deciding votes such as last month’s on the Windsor Framework, which London if not Brussels was obliged to heed. In London, Brussels and Dublin, considerable hope has been invested in the growth of Northern Ireland’s centre ground.
If Alliance was more critical of EU regulations it could be effective in influencing improvement. Even if this did not succeed, at least it would help the party climb back on to the rope.