addition of other candidates such as Catherine Connolly in Galway West. The ULA is also receiving backing from Socialist Democracy, a small Trotskyist group. The Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) permits its members to aid ULA election campaigns in a personal capacity but has criticised the ULA's lack of revolutionary and anti-imperialist platforms. A number of other left parties including the Workers' Party and the Communist Party of Ireland are not affiliated to the ULA but co-operate with one another on issues where they hold common positions. The United Left Alliance name did not appear on ballot papers for the 2011 general election, and candidates were listed under their individual parties or as non-party. This was because the alliance is not yet a registered political party: attempts to have "United Left Alliance" added to the names of the constituent parties by the Registrar of Political Parties had not been completed in time for the 25 February poll. In April 2012 in Dublin the second ULA conference was held, two non-aligned members (non-Socialist Party or People Before Profit members) of the ULA were elected to the steering committee. Programme The alliance declared that it wished to become an alternative to a potential Fine Gael–Labour coalition government that could be formed following the election. They oppose public spending cuts and reductions in welfare and pay rates and have ruled out deals or coalitions with either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael – who they describe as "right wing parties". The programme agreed by the parties making up the alliance has seven "key demands". 2011 general election candidates The alliance initially stated that it expected to stand about twenty candidates for election in 2011. By 14 February twenty had been announced. Five candidates were elected. Denotes candidates elected to Dáil Éireann 31st Dáil The five TDs elected under the ULA banner sit as part of the Technical Group, along with 11 other Independent TDs. It was reported in April 2011 in the political magazine The Phoenix that the ULA was divided between the Socialist Party and the PBPA with "palpable tension between the two groups at their own weekly ULA meetings as well as at Technical Group gatherings, with BB [Richard Boyd Barret] and [Joe] Higgins barely speaking to each other unless required to conduct essential business." The ULA held its first national convention on 27 June in Liberty Hall in Dublin which was