Green Party is the main alternative to the five-party Executive system

In this election campaign, the traditional parties have tried to shape the debate along the usual lines of division and distrust. But as they try to drag the debate into the past, the electorate are moving forward.

People can see first-hand how the housing crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, and the hospital waiting list crisis is affecting their lives. And of course, the severity of the climate crisis is only becoming more obvious.

These are the issues that politicians should be focused on, and these are the issues the Green Party is committed to delivering on.

But much remains to be done to build a fair and sustainable society and economy here in NI. Whilst it’s been five years since the last Assembly election, we’ve just had two years of an Assembly and Executive in that time. But in that short period, we have demonstrated the importance of devolution, and what can be achieved if committed and progressive MLAs are elected.

With just two MLAs, the Greens have punched above our weight in Stormont.

We forward three pieces of legislation: NI’s first climate legislation, a law to protect women’s right to access abortion, and a law to guarantee victims and survivors of domestic abuse paid time off work.

But political system which allows constant collapse and stalemate to arise is clearly a system long overdue reform. It’s time to remove community designation from the Assembly, and to move forward from the divisive politics of the past. It’s time to put an end to manufactured crises – let’s have politics which instead tackles the real issues facing people’s everyday lives.

It’s time to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. It’s time to allocate the £300m of emergency funding the Executive has been sitting whilst ordinary people struggle. It’s time to reintroduce the Universal Credit uplift, and to introduce a real living wage.

It’s time to tackle the housing crisis. It’s time for the introduction of rent controls to reverse ever-increasing rent rises.

It’s time to build warm and insulated social housing. It’s time to bring empty and vacant properties back into use.

It’s time to tackle the crisis facing our hospitals. It’s time to pay our frontline workers a fair wage, and to invest in the transformation of our health service.

It’s time to end the segregation of our education system, and to move beyond the traditional politics of division.

The people of NI need politicians who are willing to do the job they were elected to do. It’s time to vote Green #1 on May 5.