UUP leader Burrows to unveil new Stormont health minister on Thursday

The Ulster Unionist leader has moved to address the fallout from the acrimonious resignation of Mike Nesbitt as Stormont health minister.

Ulster Unionist leader Jon Burrows said he will name his party’s new Stormont health minister on Thursday as he addressed the fallout from Mike Nesbitt’s resignation.

Mr Nesbitt quit on Tuesday after an acrimonious fallout with Mr Burrows over the proposed withdrawal of emergency general surgery from Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, Co Londonderry.

The dispute flared after Mr Burrows stated at a town hall meeting in Coleraine last week that he was against the plan recommended by health trust bosses.

In a hard-hitting resignation letter, Mr Nesbitt, who had not yet confirmed whether he was going to push ahead with the withdrawal proposal, said he was not going to be a minister who learned about his party leader’s views on key issues through the media.

Mr Burrows answered media questions on the row between himself and Mr Nesbitt – the man he replaced as UUP leader – at Stormont on Wednesday.

During the press conference he declined to rule himself out of contention for the now vacant portfolio – despite doing so when he first took on the leadership role at the start of the year.

Mr Burrows said he was “disappointed” Mr Nesbitt has decided to resign and insisted he had still been “prepared to work” with him as minister.

“I am disappointed that he has resigned, but I now need to look to the future,” he said.

“Within 24 hours you’ll know who the next health minister is going to be,” the UUP leader told reporters at Stormont.

“You will know tomorrow who the next health minister is going to be.”

Mr Burrows was asked several times whether he would rule himself out of contention.

He insisted he would not engage in “speculation” over the identity of the next minister.

“I’m not going down a rabbit hole here of talking about who’s going to be the next health minister, I will make that decision overnight,” Mr Burrows said.

“I will make a weighed-up decision swiftly, but not hastily, in the best interest of people in Northern Ireland.”

An emergency meeting of the Assembly’s Health Committee has also been convened for Thursday when senior officials within the Department of Health will face questions from MLAs.

Justifying his decision to oppose the withdrawal of emergency surgery at the Causeway Hospital, Mr Burrows said the local community had not been properly consulted on the proposal.

He also rejected the suggestion that Mr Nesbitt was not aware of his view.

“Mike was aware of my attendance at that (town hall meeting), he was aware that I was opposed to the proposals,” he said.

Mr Burrows said he was not opposed to restructuring the health service in Northern Ireland but he insisted not all reform proposals were “correct”.

The resignation row has played out months after another former UUP leader, Doug Beattie, quit the party after he also fell out with Mr Burrows.

While there have been suggestions of a major split within the party’s Assembly team over his leadership style, the summer also delivered some good news for Mr Burrows with an opinion poll suggesting the UUP had overtaken the DUP as the region’s most popular unionist party.

Mr Burrows told reporters he was leading a “cohesive party” as he insisted that the party’s ruling executive, its councillors, its grandees, its management board and its members were all behind him.

He did not mention the party’s MLA group.

“This party has gone through change,” Mr Burrows said.

He added: “That might cause some issues, but I have a coherent team.

“I have strong support right across the Ulster Unionist Party and we’re going to keep going, connecting with the people of Northern Ireland, and give them the change that they deserve.”

Mr Nesbitt posted a copy of his resignation letter to Mr Burrows on X on Tuesday evening.

It laid bare the scale of the fallout between the men.

He wrote that Mr Burrows gave him a “red line” initially over his opposition to puberty blockers, but had recently introduced a second red line on his stance over the Causeway Hospital.

“I am not the sort of minister who is happy to discover the leader’s view of issues under my purview by having to monitor the media,” Mr Nesbitt wrote.

“Yesterday (Monday), I offered you a way to manage this situation.

“As I have not received a timely response, and given the shockwaves you have created in the HSC system, this matter needs resolved.

“Being Minister of Health remains the greatest privilege of my political career.

“It is, therefore, with no little regret that I have composed this letter of resignation.”

Mr Nesbitt was twice UUP leader, from 2013 to 2017 and from 2024 until earlier this year when Mr Burrows was appointed.

He had been health minister since 2024.

In the barbed resignation letter, Mr Nesbitt thanked Mr Burrows, a former senior police officer, for agreeing to be co-opted as a North Antrim MLA.

“Bringing you into Stormont is on me, as is my decision to stand down as party leader, opening the opportunity for you to mount a successful campaign to take the role,” he added.

“Previously, I held the record for the shortest time between becoming an MLA and assuming the leadership, but you proved I was only playing at it. Congratulations!”

Mr Nesbitt was first elected as an MLA in 2011 after a high-profile broadcasting career and he was also commissioner for victims and survivors.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said Mr Nesbitt’s resignation was a “setback” for the “confidence that people have” in the health service.

He said he would nominate a candidate for a new health minister if the UUP could not come to an agreement.

The DUP would be the next party in line to nominate if the UUP declined to do so.

Mr Robinson called on Mr Burrows to nominate a replacement “as quickly as possible”, adding: “I don’t think it is helpful or fruitful for there to be this hiatus within health.”

Sinn Féin MLA and chairman of the Assembly Health Committee Philip McGuigan suggested Mr Burrows was “overstepping the line” by putting down “red lines” for his party’s Executive minister.

He accused him of prioritising the “narrow political interests of the Ulster Unionist Party” above the interests of staff and patients.

“What has happened is certainly not good news for our health service,” Mr McGuigan said.

SDLP MLA and leader of the official opposition Matthew O’Toole said the UUP was prioritising “internal squabbles” over “delivering for the public”.

“For the public out there in Northern Ireland – particularly those who use the health service and/or have loved ones that need the health service every single day – what we’ve seen over the last 12 to 24 hours has been a complete and utter shambles,” he said.

“It is once again an example of how our politics does not work for the public.”