Jon Burrows will say that unionism in Northern Ireland "stands at a crossroads" when he makes his first conference speech as Ulster Unionist leader later on Saturday.

The former police officer took over as party leader at the start of this year, after being co-opted to Stormont as an assembly member (MLA) last summer.

Burrows is expected to tell delegates that unionism "must grow its support rather than simply divide the vote it already has".

That comes after calls from DUP leader Gavin Robinson for unionist parties to maximise cooperation in next year's assembly election, to boost the number of unionist seats.

The UUP leader plans to tell his conference that the party is "ready to lead", emphasising his ambition to return the Ulster Unionists to a stronger position at Stormont, after years of decline.

He is expected to argue that electoral cooperation alone cannot be unionism's answer.

"Better management of the votes we already have is not a growth strategy. We need to bring out those who stay at home, earn back those who have moved elsewhere and give young people a reason to vote unionist for the first time," he will say.

Burrows has strong support among the party's grassroots but has not always seen eye-to-eye with some of his MLA group, with Doug Beattie quitting the party several months ago in protest.

Another former leader, Mike Nesbitt, also resigned as health minister last month in a row with the North Antrim MLA over hospital services, publicly criticising Burrows' brand of leadership.

But Burrows maintains that he is seeking to expand the UUP's appeal and return it to the position it once held as the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland.

He has never run in an election before and not only faces a personal test of being returned to the North Antrim seat by the electorate, but also demonstrating that the UUP, under his leadership, can win additional seats in the upcoming assembly and council elections next May.

Recent polls show a rise in support for the party under Burrows, but it remains to be seen if that apparent surge in popularity will translate into extra votes.

The UUP leader will also reject calls to collapse the assembly, describing collapse as a dereliction of duty.

He is expected to say: "I have heard talk recently of gift wrapping seats to Sinn Féin. Collapsing Stormont would gift wrap Northern Ireland to Sinn Féin. It would let them call us a failed statelet."

Addressing Sinn Féin directly on its call for a border poll, he will say: "You claim you want to build an entirely new state. Your ministers cannot even fix the potholes in the roads of this one.

"Our plan for Northern Ireland starts with a simple proposition: strong individuals build strong families. Strong families build strong communities. Strong communities build a strong Northern Ireland, and a strong Northern Ireland strengthens our United Kingdom."

When the DUP's Paul Givan called the Ulster Unionists a "one man band" in his conference speech it wasn't meant as a compliment.

Except party leader Burrows won't have seen it like that.

Whatever this former police officer lacks in political experience he makes up for in raw confidence.

Someone close to his thinking says: "Changing a stale party containing several former leaders was always going to cause friction, but Burrows' calculation is that some turbulence is unavoidable if the UUP is to reconnect with ordinary people and achieve lasting renewal."

If by turbulence you mean leaving former leader Beattie believing he had no choice but to quit and another, Nesbitt, being hung out to dry so badly he decided he had no option but to give up his beloved post as Health Minister, then we have had turbulence.

It's thought that up to half his MLAs are estranged from him to the extent he had to appoint another of his critics, Robbie Butler, as Nesbitt's replacement.

But Burrows seems oblivious - almost welcoming - of the chaos and if the last Lucid Talk opinion poll is to believed the punters love it.

The UUP on 16 per cent have overtaken the DUP. Burrows has an approval rating by some distance ahead of other unionist leaders.

But hang on a minute. If that's going to translate into seats there are a couple of things which need changing.

The UUP's archaic structures where constituency parties are all powerful does not lend itself to maximising the vote.

Secondly, he needs to come up with new dynamic candidates capable of competing for seats at Stormont.

The DUP are much better organised and have a good track record of fighting elections.

Burrows hasn't even fought one. He needs results next May. Opinion polls and chaos will only take you so far.