Naomi Long says priority is justice role, not general election

The Alliance assembly member Naomi Long was MP for Belfast East between 2010 and 2015.

Naomi Long has said she is fully focused on her job as justice minister and is not distracted by the possibility of standing in Belfast East at the general election this year.

Mrs Long is working on bringing forward several new pieces of legislation over the next three years.

But if she runs and is elected an MP, she would have to quit her Stormont post.

"I'm not ruling anything out or anything in," she told BBC News NI.

Mrs Long aims to table legislation in three key areas during what is left of the current Stormont mandate.

These include:

• Tougher sentences for those who attack police and emergency workers.

• 'Charlotte's Law', named after Charlotte Murray, meaning murderers who do not disclose the location of a victims' remains would spend longer in prison.

• New hate crime legislation based on recommendations from a recent judge led review. According to recent PSNI figures, there were 876 racist hate crimes in Northern Ireland in 2022, 446 of them were committed in Belfast.

Mrs Long described getting the laws through as "a pretty challenging set of ambitions".

As to whether she will still be in post at the Department of Justice to steer the legislation through Stormont, she told BBC News NI that was not a conversation she had had with anyone.

Naomi Long has been the leader of the Alliance Party since 2016.

"My priority is the Department of Justice and that is what I am focused on," she said.

"I have never been distracted by elections yet and I fought a number of campaigns while I was justice minister previously and was able to do the job and still campaign.

"It is part of the business of politics, but it is not my main focus right now."

When asked if it was possible she would run, she replied: "I am not ruling anything out or anything in, but I'm not really thinking about it at this point."

Mrs Long has been the Alliance candidate in Belfast East in every general election since 2005 and held the seat between 2010 and 2015.

Fellow executive minister Robin Swann has already been confirmed as an Ulster Unionist candidate in the South Antrim constituency.

Mr Swann said running for elections was "what politicians do" and he would be able to carry out both roles.

However, concerns have been raised over whether Mr Swann can act as health minister while also campaigning to become an MP.