Mike Nesbitt got it right on the big calls like Brexit - and set the direction of travel for unionism - Aiken
Mike Nesbitt made “the right calls at the right time” – and set the direction of travel for the Ulster Unionist Party and unionism more generally, Steve Aiken has said.
The UUP MLA was reflecting on the outgoing leader’s time in office, after he announced he was stepping down from his second stint at the helm of the party yesterday.
Mr Nesbitt took up the post in 2024 after Doug Beattie quit, and said that he aimed to reform the party’s structures and prepare it for the 2027 Stormont elections. He had previously led the party between 2012 and 2017, and backed remain in the EU referendum in 2026.
Mr Aiken said that Mr Nesbitt was responsible for setting the current direction of the Ulster Unionists, and had brought all of the current MLA team at Stormont into politics. “First of all, Mike brought me into politics. And if you look at our MLA group, he's brought every single one of us into politics. And we're very much part of Mike's move towards making a modern, responsible unionism.
“I think he has succeeded to a large extent, because the UUP was lacking direction and didn't particularly know where it was going. But Mike has given it that impetus to head in the head in the right direction.
“And in particular, when I was party leader, we took health because nobody else wanted it.
“Now, after Robin Swann doing such a successful job in health, and now Mike – despite what some of the naysayers are saying – is beginning to turn it around.
“But he has also achieved quite a lot more. He has done a lot of work reaching out to our friends in the Irish Republic, in the United States and across Europe.
“He's led the party in getting ourselves well and truly established back within Westminster.
“And the one thing that I'll always support him for… when he was party leader, we supported Remain.
“Just because we anticipated what Brexit would have brought to Northern Ireland”, the South Antrim MLA said.
Mr Aiken – himself a former leader – added: “When people look back, they'll realise not only did he make the right calls at the right times, but his direction of travel is the way unionism should be going”.