Robbie Butler likely to be appointed health minister later today as the UUP attempts to move on from the shock resignation of Mike Nesbitt
A new health minister is set to be appointed today – with Robbie Butler likely to take over from Mike Nesbitt after his shock resignation this week.
Jon Burrows has promised to announce his successor today, after Mr Nesbitt stood down on Tuesday night after a disagreement with his leader over proposed changes to emergency general surgery at the Causeway hospital – something the UUP boss said he could never support.
The former health minister had said Mr Burrows’s opposition to the plans had created “shock waves” in the health and social care system. An infuriated Mr Nesbitt also accused his leader of having introduced a new “red line” which he had not made clear when he took over as party leader.
However, addressing journalists at Stormont on Wednesday, Mr Burrows said it is “simply not acceptable that people in areas like Fermanagh with the SWAH, or Causeway and the north coast, are kept in the dark about the reasons for change of services. About what impact they would have, about what contingencies had been thought through”.
Mr Burrows was asked a number of times whether he would rule himself out of contention for the post. “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,” he said.
Addressing questions about the resignations of Mike Nesbitt and Doug Beattie in recent months, Mr Burrows said he had promised change and that’s what he would deliver.
“Things are going to change. We need to reconnect with the public, we need to be speaking about the public priorities – and we need to have the courage to listen to people around this country and deliver for them”, the UUP boss said.
An emergency meeting of the health committee will be held at Stormont today to discuss Mr Nesbitt’s resignation.