A former Alliance election candidate who has joined the SDLP has said she does not consider herself to be a nationalist but is interested in discussing Irish unity.
Jackie Coade, who quit Alliance over how it handled a complaint of verbal abuse, said there are people in the party who are "very pro-united Ireland".
The schoolteacher is to stand for the SDLP in the Craigavon area in May's council elections.
Read more: SDLP leader Colum Eastwood: Unionists are engaging with our forum on Irish unity
She was warmly welcomed into the party in Derry on Saturday as she joined their annual conference, which had the slogan of a "movement for a new Ireland".
Ms Coade said she will "never be boxed" into either unionist or nationalist labels but feels it is "important to have the conversation" about the prospect of Irish unity.
She told Belfast Live: "I feel that the last couple of years we have been stuck in this circle and cycle of politics that just has not been working.
"And when we look to Westminster I think that it has certainly triggered a conversation that people necessarily may not have had before."
She added that she feels it is "important to have the conversation" and "have a very positive kind of outlook on it".
Ms Coade said she does not think the SDLP is "hugely different in terms of how it's talked about within the party" compared to Alliance.
Speaking at the SDLP conference, she added: "There are people who are having these conversations within Alliance. There are people who are very pro-united Ireland within Alliance so I don't think that's very different in terms of having it very openly here."
Asked if she would consider herself a nationalist, Ms Coade said: "I don't consider myself to be either nationalist, republican or unionist."
She said that since it was announced she had joined the SDLP "people have tried to box me" but she "will never be boxed".
"I am very much about everyone coming together. You know, that core value will never leave me," she added.
"It's not just an Alliance thing. It does exist in SDLP, it does exist within the Ulster Unionist Party also, so I don't think it's unique to Alliance."
Ms Coade said she has been an SDLP voter since she was aged 18 and praised former deputy leader Seamus Mallon who had lived near her as a "giant" of Stormont politics.
She said she felt "very grateful" to have received a warm welcome into the SDLP.
"Everyone has been offering lots of support, which has been really nice. So you know, I'm feeling very, very grateful," she said.
In a pre-conference interview, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said his party is "best placed" to make the arguments for a united Ireland.
He told Belfast Live that unionists have been engaging in "quiet conversations" with the New Ireland Commission, the party's forum for discussing Irish unity, for the past 18 months.
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