Ulster Unionist leader, Steve Aiken OBE MLA, has said that Sammy Wilson`s attempts to undermine Northern Ireland`s Health Minister in the middle of a pandemic are pathetic.

Mr Aiken said:

“This is more of the same pathetic petty party-political point scoring from the DUP. Sammy Wilson attempting to undermine a unionist minister in the middle of a pandemic is hitting a new low, even for the DUP. It is clear that Sammy Wilson has won the DUP`s internal battles and is now pulling Arlene Foster`s strings.

“This is a man who was pictured on the London Underground not wearing a face covering and has regularly undermined public health messages. And his colleagues now ignore medical and scientific advice.

“As for his unfounded criticism of Robin Swann, it was the DUP which ran away from taking the Health portfolio in January. They ducked it twice. For an MP, Sammy Wilson is also very ill informed. He should have read the Health Minister`s statement to the Assembly yesterday. The key issue facing the Health Service is staffing capacity. There are over 5,000 vacancies across the Health and Social Care system and that`s a direct result of years of underfunding by the Executive. It`s a pity Sammy Wilson and his colleagues never did anything to resolve that instead of blundering about until the Executive collapsed.

“If Sammy Wilson wants to talk about damage to the Economy, he should speak to his DUP colleague, Economy Minister Diane Dodds who is presiding over a chaotic Covid Restrictions Business Support Scheme which has failed to deliver for the vast majority of businesses which have applied for it. Half a billion pounds are sitting in the Executive`s coffers and the DUP Economy Minister can`t get support to the businesses which are pleading for it.”