Arlene Foster brands Alliance the ‘nasty party’ in Twitter spat

Former first minister Mrs Foster, who also led the DUP for a number of years, provoked an equally caustic response from the Alliance leader during a sporadic exchange of tweets that spanned almost 24 hours.

The row began on Wednesday when Mrs Foster reposted a tweet from someone who said: “If the DUP doesn’t want to play ball, the government needs to change the rules ... three years of Sinn Fein throwing its teddy out of the pram for whatever, and no recollection of Alliance wanting the rules changed to address a lack of Executive.”

They were referring to the three-year period between 2017 and 2020 when Sinn Fein collapsed Stormont leaving Northern Ireland without a devolved Executive.

Along with the tweet, Mrs Foster posted the message: “Very true.”

Mrs Long responded, saying: “No, it isn’t true, Arlene. We have consistently called for reform of the institutions to allow an Executive to be formed by those willing to do it.

“The DUP weren’t up for serious reform in that three years because your vetoes are mutual – if SF lost theirs, you’d lose yours.”

It continued with Mrs Foster saying: “Sorry it is true. Not once did you say the government should change the Belfast Agreement to facilitate those of us who were willing to go into Stormont for 3 years whilst SF kept us all out.”

In a further tweet – which included a jibe about Mrs Foster’s evidence to the RHI inquiry – Mrs Long said: “That’s simply incorrect. You both had red lines holding us all back. We raised reform throughout the talks, including voluntary coalition (with weighted majority voting) and ending abuse of the petition of concern. Maybe you just weren’t over every jot and tittle?”