Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt, has lamented what he describes as a black weekend for Northern Ireland and its economy, under the management of a DUP / Sinn Féin led Executive.

Mike Nesbitt said:

“We have Martin McGuinness trotting around Dublin with the same old rhetoric. Meanwhile, senior party members are casting doubt over Sinn Féin’s commitment to lowering Corporation Tax to 12.5% in 2018.

“On the other hand, Arlene Foster’s DUP continues to back the UK exiting from the European Union, despite Barack Obama’s warning it could take a decade to negotiate a new bilateral trade agreement between the USA and the UK.

“What inward investors and wealth creators crave is certainty. What the DUP and Sinn Féin are delivering is the exact opposite. How on earth is Alastair Hamilton and his Invest NI team supposed to sell Northern Ireland to the Americans when one First Minister is for staying in the EU and the other for quitting, and one represents a party that is clearly luke-warm at best over Corporation Tax?

“These parties have been at the heart of our government for nine long years now. Economic growth is an anaemic one percent, the prosperity gap with Great Britain has widened on their watch, and long term and youth unemployment have not been addressed successfully. Enda Kenny failed to get a return ticket to Dublin’s Government Buildings despite a strong record of economic growth and clear messaging to the USA that the Republic is open for business. By contrast, the DUP and Sinn Féin are failures, costing our people jobs, prosperity and wellbeing. The people should deliver a decisive verdict on that track record on the 5th of May. It is time for change, not more of the same.”