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National
Brendan Hughes

UUP: Key policies from party's Northern Ireland Assembly election manifesto

The Ulster Unionist Party has launched its manifesto for May's Stormont Assembly election. First World War battleship-turned-visitor attraction HMS Caroline in East Belfast provided a striking backdrop as the party unveiled its 40-page policy document.

Health is given top billing with seven pages while there are two on Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.

Speaking at the launch on Thursday, UUP leader Doug Beattie insisted there will be no united Ireland for generations and accused rivals of using the protocol as an "election slogan".

Read more: No united Ireland for generations to come, UUP leader Doug Beattie insists

Here is a look at some of the key messages and policies from the party's manifesto:

Health

The UUP, whose MLA Robin Swann has been Health Minister since 2020, said the party "stepped forward and took the responsibility that others chose to dodge". It argued the early roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine showed the "importance and benefit of Northern Ireland's place within the Union".

The party wants to focus on "rebuilding the health service" post-pandemic. It proposes creating a new role of Health and Social Care chief executive for the day-to-day running of the health service.

The role would be operationally independent but accountable to a board made up of political, professional and civic society representatives, similar to arrangements for the PSNI. Other ideas include a single mental health trust for Northern Ireland and a ban on the use of contract agency workers "once the immediate HSC pressures subside".

Northern Ireland Protocol

The UUP said it continues to look for "common sense alternatives" to the post-Brexit Irish Sea trading arrangements. It said unionists cannot accept an internal border within the UK and the UUP had repeatedly "warned of the potential hazards" during UK-EU negotiations.

"It is clear there are some benefits of having access to the EU single market but it cannot be at the detriment to our relationship with the UK internal market," the party added. Its proposals include labelling goods coming from Britain to Northern Ireland and not onto the EU single market in the Irish Republic as being for "UK sale only".

The party also proposes new Westminster legislation to ensure companies have a duty to ensure equality of provision to all regions of the UK.

Economy

The UUP wants to set up a Northern Ireland "job skills fund" to boost employment training, apprenticeships and life-long learning for all workers. It said this would be similar to the agency Skills Development Scotland and Skillnet in the Irish Republic.

The party said it would press for further support for rates relief for businesses in the next Assembly mandate. It wants to "progress towards" reducing Northern Ireland's corporation tax rate to 15% at some point in the future.

The party also proposes that all ports and airports in Northern Ireland should be designated as "freeports" - special kinds of port where normal tax and customs rules do not apply.

Infrastructure

The Ulster Unionists propose establishing an "independent infrastructure commission" to provide annual assessments to the Stormont Executive. The party supports extending Translink's Glider bus service to North Belfast, but it does not say which route it would prefer.

It said rapidly increasing the electric vehicle charging network should be a priority for the next Executive. The party wants to change the public company NI Water to a mutual, not-for-profit model and allow it to borrow against its asset base and make multi-year investment plans.

It remains opposed to water charges. The UUP also wants a review of energy security and prices with a view to creating an "all-islands energy market".

Education

The UUP proposes establishing a "multi-denominational single education system". It believes the current controlled education sector "is the best example of the way forward for a single education system for Northern Ireland".

While expressing support for grammar schools, the party said it wants research conducted on potentially transferring P7 pupils based on continual assessment. The party proposes a review of free school meals "with a view to providing a free meal every day to all primary age children".

And it wants to bring forward legislation to give the Department for Education powers to issue statutory guidance in a bid to reduce the cost of school uniforms.

Other policies

Housing should be a standalone issue in a new programme for government with multi-year budgets agreed, the UUP said. It proposes that the Executive create a standalone loneliness strategy as well as establish a "fuel poverty task force".

On policing, the party wants 500 additional officers recruited over the next three years. It said it would be pressing for this target to be properly financed in the next Assembly's multi-year budget The party also wants to ban so-called gay conversion therapy in Northern Ireland.

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