Claim of ‘battle a day’ at Stormont Executive a ‘surprise to me’ – Nesbitt

A claim of there being a “battle a day” at the Stormont Executive was a “surprise to me”, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has said.

Agriculture and Environment Minister Andrew Muir earlier this week complained of a slow pace to agree items, and claimed that while last year First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly were working in a collegiate manner, in recent times that “had ended”.

He also said while he was not expecting the administration to collapse, he did not rule that out before the next Assembly election due to take place in 2027.

Mr Nesbitt said he had been “surprised” by Mr Muir’s comments.

“In terms of my experience since June of last year of sitting on the Executive for the first time, it is pretty collaborative,” he told the PA news agency.

“Clearly you have got four parties around the table, and their ideological positions aren’t just different on the constitutional question, but I look at the Labour government – a single party government in London – and they’re not exactly homogeneous, and you look at the Conservative opposition and they’re not homogeneous up to the point where they’re questioning whether they’ve got the right leaders at the top of the organisations.

“So having a four-party coalition presents additional challenges, and I actually think we’re not doing a bad job. That would be my perspective.”

Mr Muir also expressed disappointment in unionist parties, and claimed the DUP are “picking out wedge issues” while the UUP is a “lost cause”, and “not the moderate voice for unionism”.

Mr Nesbitt, who leads the UUP, responded by saying that the Alliance Party is “a little spooked” because their “surge is over”.