Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, is putting mental health and wellbeing at the top of his agenda for tomorrow’s historic meeting with the Prime Minister, the first time in over a decade the PM has met an Ulster Unionist Leader at the start of a parliamentary mandate.

Mr Nesbitt said:

“I welcome the opportunity for a private conversation with the Prime Minister, and will use it primarily to continue the conversation we began at Stormont House last December, when I impressed upon David Cameron Northern Ireland’s appalling rates of poor mental health.

“Put simply, the last figures I saw revealed that 12% of people in Great Britain claiming Disability Living Allowance (DLA) do so because of mental health issues, where the corresponding DLA percentage in Northern Ireland is 23%, which is double. There is clear causal linkage to the Troubles, which means it is not covered by the Barnett Formula, and is a legacy issue. If we can devote hundreds of millions into Dealing with the Past in terms of case reviews for victims and survivors, there is a compelling case to do something for the tens of thousands of our people who are denied fulfilling, meaningful lives because of poor mental health, measured in trauma, especially Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, alcohol and drug abuse, and attempted and completed suicides.

“I am also interested to hear the Prime Minister’s views on human rights and what he wants to achieve by introducing a Human Rights Bill to Parliament. Our attempts at Dealing with the Past are dogged by the need to comply with Article Two of the European Convention on Human Rights as defined by European case law.

“The issue is not the Article itself, but how it has been interpreted by the European courts. How can you be ‘timely’ in investigating something that happened 20 or 30 years ago? I sense a British Bill on Human Rights could open up possibilities to deal with these difficulties and allow us to press on with the backlog of legacy inquiries, which currently leaves so many families of Troubles victims frustrated.

“I will be asking the Prime Minister if he is considering downgrading Strasbourg rulings from compulsory to advisory.

“The third area is prosperity. During the election, we made clear we want Northern Ireland to close the prosperity gap. Put simply, if the people of Great Britain have £1 in their back pockets, our people have only 77 pence. We need to start generating serious wealth and the economic levers include Corporation Tax, which is currently on hold because of Sinn Féin’s flip flop on implementing the Stormont House Agreement.

“I look forward to tomorrow’s meeting, which is symbolic of the continued revival of the Ulster Unionist Party. In electoral terms, the last twelve months has seen us retain our seat in Europe, show double digit percentage growth at local government level, and return to the green benches at Westminster. In Party terms, we have three of the most valuable positives in politics: momentum, belief and credibility. This meeting enhances our credibility.”