“2016 will be a decisive year for Northern Ireland and I wish every one of our citizens health, wealth and happiness. As we enter the final days of this Assembly mandate, I know of no one who thinks this is as good as it gets. Everyone yearns for better, after eight years of Sinn Féin/DUP led government at Stormont. I believe the Ulster Unionist Party is now in a position to deliver better and to prove it, we will publish our Alternative vision for Government for Northern Ireland early in the New Year.
“2016 will see us at our first major football finals in 30 years and I wish Northern Ireland every success at the Euro Championships in France. By then, I fervently hope Rory McIlroy has won his first Masters, to complete golf’s grand slam of major titles and that Carl Frampton has been victorious in his World super-bantamweight clash against Scott Quigg at the Manchester Arena in February, to set up a vintage year for local sport.
“The year will also see the centenary of the Battle of the Somme when I shall again pay my respects at Thiepval and the Ulster Tower. It is also the centenary of the Easter Rising, an event the Ulster Unionist Party will mark by exploring the causes and consequences, one of which was the sequence of events which led to partition and the creation of Northern Ireland. Five years from our own centenary, I wish everyone a Happy New Year!”
Mike Nesbitt MLA