NI election 2022: Green Party punches above its weight, says leader

Green Party leader Clare Bailey launched her party's manifesto in Belfast

Voters are more interested in what the next Northern Ireland first minister will do rather than which party the represent, the leader of the Green Party has said.

Clare Bailey was speaking as she launched the party's manifesto for the assembly election.

Speaking in Belfast, she said voters want to know "if the first minster is going to deliver".

Ms Bailey said that was the big question.

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Ms Bailey told the launch that Green assembly members (MLAs) had delivered in the last assembly mandate and that her party had put three bills on the statute book relating to climate change, abortion and domestic abuse.

She said even though her party had only two MLAs in the last assembly, the party was punching above its weight.

The Green Party is standing 18 candidates in May's election under the slogan "It's Time".

Among the proposals contained in the party's manifesto are a call for greater investment in mental health services, an end to academic selection for post-primary education and a Bill of Rights.

The party wants greater transparency around political donations, the establishment of an independent Environmental Protection Agency and rent controls.

The party said it would continue to push the government to lower the voting age to 16 and it wanted to remove community designation in the assembly.

Ms Bailey, who is standing for re-election in Belfast South, said many people were being affected by the cost-of-living crisis and that Stormont had "failed to protect those most impacted".

"Hundreds of millions of pounds of emergency funding has been left unspent by the traditional parties," Ms Bailey added.

She said it was "time to move beyond the politics of division".

At the 2017 election, the Green Party's two successful candidates won seats in Belfast South and North Down.

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