There is "no excuse" for the DUP blocking Stormont following the Windsor Framework deal on Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol, Alliance leader Naomi Long has said.
She dismissed suggestions the DUP's boycott strategy helped secure the landmark agreement easing Irish Sea trade barriers, saying it was "coincidence rather than correlation".
Mrs Long insisted the deal between the UK and European Union could have been reached several years ago if former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had not been in power.
Read more: NI Protocol deal analysis: Focus shifts to DUP as Windsor Framework is agreed
The Alliance leader defended her party's past calls for the "rigorous implementation" of the Protocol, saying the joint statement in 2020 with other parties was in the context of the government "talking about breaking international law".
In an interview with Belfast Live ahead of Alliance's annual conference this weekend, Mrs Long said: "I think the DUP have benefited from the fact that, if you like, coincidence rather than correlation makes it look good.
"But actually what worked for a change was having a Prime Minister in these negotiations who took the negotiations seriously, who treated the people with whom he was negotiating as equals, and therefore the EU were ready to do serious business.
"The truth is, this is a deal we could have had in 2019 had we had a Prime Minister who was not more interested and hyping up tensions, in demeaning the EU and in generally creating mayhem."
Mrs Long welcomed Northern Ireland having more say in EU laws but raised questions over how the Stormont Brake mechanism in the Windsor agreement will work.
She added: "I think no one in the last 25 years has looked at this place and said what we need are more vetoes, so I think that would be a mistake."
Last week Patricia O'Lynn, Alliance's first ever MLA in North Antrim, announced her resignation less than a year after being elected to take up a new role at Queen's University.
Ms O'Lynn's election last May was a surprise win for Alliance after a surge of transfers saw her overtake DUP stalwart Mervyn Storey.
Mrs Long said she was "very sad" that Ms O'Lynn was leaving but she understood the "frustration" for MLAs of not having a functioning Executive and Assembly.
The Alliance leader said that "every time the Assembly collapses, we lose good people".
She referenced the departure in previous years of former DUP Economy Minister Simon Hamilton, former Green Party leader Steven Agnew and ex-Sinn Fein Junior Minister Emma Fearon.
Mrs Long denied that local party activists may be frustrated Ms O'Lynn is quitting so soon, and laughed off suggestions of Alliance "running scared" of the DUP.
She added: "No, it's not the case that we're running scared of the DUP winning back that seat, and I think that will become apparent through time.
"I'm quite confident that seat won by Alliance, and when served by Alliance - people of the calibre of Patricia, and whoever will follow her - will remain an Alliance seat for a long time to come."
Speaking from Stormont, Mrs Long expressed frustration over not being able to make decisions in a functioning Executive.
She said: "We are all frustrated that we have not been able to do that over the past year. We now need to get to a point very quickly where we're back here.
"I don't think there's ever been an excuse for not having a government, but we have now no excuse for not having a government.
"So we need to get back in here and start to do the heavy lifting to deal with the finances; to deal with our public services, to deal with the cost of living crisis; to deal with the crisis in our health service.
"And yes, it will require some tough decisions. Whichever department people go to, will not be an easy time to be in government.
"But that's when real leadership counts. And that's when real leaders need to step forward - and actually do the job."
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