Burrows sets out 'stronger together' vision as he calls on people to 'come home' to unionism and the UUP

Jon Burrows will address his party conference for the first time as leader on Saturday afternoon – this time last year he had only been an MLA for a matter of weeks.

Speaking to the News Letter ahead of the annual gathering, the former policeman-turned-politician said that his vision for a stronger Northern Ireland begins with giving our children a better start in life.

He has also backed significant reforms to how Stormont operates, wanting to remove vetoes over the operation of the Assembly and Executive.

The UUP boss has slammed rivals for supporting dangerous legislation based on how it makes them look, rather than on the impact on Northern Ireland.

Speaking at a unionist meeting in Ballymena during the week, Mr Burrows had addressed the issue of voter apathy in the pro-Union community. Sitting down in Parliament Buildings for this interview, he was asked what his message is to those people who don’t vote.

“I want people to come home to unionism and Ulster Unionism. If you voted someone else, if you haven't voted, if you’re one of those people who voted years ago but hasn't voted again.

“I think there is a duty in us to offer some vision for Northern Ireland. One of my things to inspire people is to actually say how proud I am of this country. What I think Northern Ireland is so good at. We're world class in so many ways. People actually want to have that civic pride. You want to actually present that positive case for the United Kingdom.

“I think people are actually fed up feeling that we are a punch bag in unionism. Michelle O'Neill, many of the mainstream media, the commentariat – they can take swipes unionism all the time.

“But we should be making the case for the United Kingdom. It is absolutely compelling. I think you need to get people on the front foot again, give them belief, and then give them a slew of good policies”, the UUP boss said.

He said this year’s UUP conference them is “stronger together” – in terms of the union, and the people of Northern Ireland.

“A stronger Northern Ireland begins with stronger individuals. That's why I'm going to have to focus in the manifesto on early years. Everything I'm hearing from schools is telling me that young people now are turning up in school behind their milestones.

“If we can get early years right and get more support to parents in doing those things right, we can promote reading. We can actually bring build stronger individuals. Start with those stronger children, then we build stronger families”.

Mr Burrows said his party needs to give a vision to the unionist community that “we can once again be in the front foot, promoting Northern Ireland, promoting the United Kingdom” and building “strong communities, strong individuals, strong families”.

“And I think we also need to be saying to the unionist community, it's not good enough anymore to sit back and say we're not getting a fair wind in the media. How many young PUL (protestant, unionist, loyalist) people are getting involved in media? Not enough. In the law, not enough”, the North Antrim MLA said.

Mr Burrows says he is up for reform of the Stormont institutions, and that the government will be keen that any changes have broad consensus.

Last week, the DUP leader said he was opposed to changes which would stop one party collapsing or vetoing the creation of an Executive. Gavin Robinson said the 1998 political settlement and the subsequent St Andrews deal require cross-community support – saying it is “a pillar that I don't think can be removed”.

However, the UUP boss sees it differently. When asked if he agreed with Mr Robinson on that point, he said no.

“This place was designed to exist, not excel. Any institution that was devised as a post-conflict institution isn't going to be optimised in terms of its efficiency. It's natural that it evolves, and it hasn't evolved, except at a couple of big negotiations which were done under crisis.

“I'm up for for significant reform. So, for example, trying to make sure that a speaker could be elected by a supermajority… meaning no one party couldn't block the election of a speaker” – and therefore the establishment of the Assembly, he said, adding that the precise terms of how that supermajority would need to be finalised.

However, he said cross-community protections, such as requirements for cross-community support on certain issues – and the petition of concern – must remain and are non-negotiable.

In recent weeks much of the Assembly’s time has been taken up by private members bills on issues such as flags regulation and conversion practices. These bills are brought by individual MLAs rather than the Executive – and the UUP boss wants their use restricted.

He says that some of the legislation is “dangerous” and MLAs are supporting it because of how they think it makes them look, rather than the content.

“I think we need to be looking at private members bills that are much more narrow in scope. These bills are incredibly badly drafted. They're very vague. They are imprecise.

“We've seen classic examples. The Flags and Emblems Bill is a mess. The Conversion Practices Bill is a mess. These are dangerous laws. Unionism and actually Northern Ireland is in a very, very, vulnerable position – because you now have a majority of people in this place that will back legislation on its virtue signal, as opposed to its content.

“Whenever I had the the debate on minimum age of criminal responsibility, I could see the members on the other side as the penny was dropping, and what this would mean. That you could commit the offense of inciting or aiding and abetting rape a day under the age of 14, against a woman, and nothing could be done to you.

“That would be basically legal. And I could see in their eyes that they realised they didn't know what they were passing, but they were still going to pass it. Same with the conversion bill. They will pass that regardless, because they think it's the right thing to do optically”,

Jon Burrows also says he wants to lead the Ulster Unionist Party to be the single largest unionist party after the next election – fulfilling one of two pledges he made when he took over the leadership.

The UUP boss says his next target is to make his party the lead party of Northern Ireland again, a position it has not held for over two decades and is now occupied by Sinn Fein.

“I want to be the single largest unionist party at the end of the election. That is my ambition. I set two targets when I took the party leadership.

“One was to lead unionism. One was to be the party that leads Northern Ireland. I think both are needed.

“But success doesn't happen overnight. I want to ultimately run a positive campaign, get a higher percentage of the overall vote – more votes and more MLAs.

“I want us to be able to take more ministries and fix the issues that we face”, Mr Burrows said.

He also said he hopes to persuade some Alliance voters to come back to the UUP. He said: “I want to offer you a party that believes in Northern Ireland, believes in devolution. I think most Alliance Party traditional members do. That's rigorously non-sectarian, as I am”.

“I treat everyone fairly. I don't care what your sexual orientation is. I don't care what colour you are. I'm more interested in the content of your character. So, if you genuinely believe in that kind of equality of opportunity and treating people fairly, I can represent you. My party can represent you.

“We're non-sectarian, we're fair, we're competent, we believe in making this place work for everybody”.