A pilot plan to allow large stores to open for longer on Sundays in Belfast has been passed by Sinn Fein and Alliance councillors. It received opposition from the DUP, SDLP, UUP, Greens, TUV and PBP – but an amendment to defer the decision was voted down.
Jessica Bamford will represent the Alliance Party on Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, after she was co-opted to replace Peter Kennedy, who stepped down due to ill health.
Colum Eastwood has said he will vote in favour of the Assisted Dying Bill in the House of Commons on Friday – he is the only MP from Northern Ireland who will vote in favour, with every other party voting against.
Former Ulster Unionist Party election candidate Naomi McBurney has been co-opted by the Alliance Party to sit on Ards and North Down Council, replacing Christine Creighton, who stepped down just over a week ago.
Alliance Party councillor Gillian McCollum has been moved to the Holywood and Clandeboye District Electoral Area (DEA) on Ards and North Down Borough Council, to replace David Rossiter, who stepped down from the council last month and has since left Alliance.
The Alliance Party has announced that Eóin Tennyson MLA has been elected as their new deputy leader, following a vote of 190 party members on Tuesday evening. He said that it’s a ‘hugely exciting time for our party’ and he is ‘incredibly thankful to party members’.
Following his exit from party politics, Stephen Farry is taking on a new role at Ulster University, leading their new Strategic Policy Unit with Jodie Carson. The former minister announced in September that he would step down as Alliance Party deputy leader.
Lagan Valley MP Sorcha Eastwood has ruled herself out as the next deputy leader of the Alliance Party, saying her focus is on Lagan Valley and that it is a “special job which I love and is a privilege to do”.
The Alliance Party has released a policy document named ‘No More Time to Wait’, with North Antrim MLA Sian Mulholland saying that a five-week wait for Universal Credit is ‘forcing some people to turn to illegal money lenders’.
