He was praised by First Minister Peter Robinson, who said that Wilson was the "most qualified Finance Minister that Northern Ireland has had in decades". In August 2009, Wilson was the subject of criticism from the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities for saying that "jobs should go to people born in Northern Ireland before going to economic migrants". Following racist attacks on Romanian people in Belfast, Wilson commented that "charges of racism were always coincided with the holding out of the hand for more money". The Northern Ireland Assembly Standards Committee dismissed complaints made against him over these remarks. Wilson's tenure as Finance Minister coincided with the worst recession in the history of Northern Ireland. He criticised banks in Northern Ireland for not increasing lending to businesses. Wilson was commended for displaying leadership and received cross-party support for stopping bonuses to civil servants during the recession. Wilson was replaced as Finance Minister in July 2013 by DUP colleague Simon Hamilton, in a planned reshuffle. Brexit position On 09 February 2016, during a debate in the House of Commons regarding the upcoming Brexit Referendum, Wislon gave his support to the UK government holding a referendum, as he wanted to "break down the walls of the prison in which we have been held for the last 40-odd years. In that time, we have been robbed of our money, our fishing grounds have been violated, our farmers have been destroyed and the EU Court of Justice has run over the rights of victims while upholding those of terrorists". Shortly after this statement, Arlene Foster formally announced The Democratic Unionist Party's intention to campaign for Leave in the Brexit referendum. In reply to a 2016 UK Treasury report that highlighted the negative economic impact of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, with specific reference to the economy of Northern Ireland, Wilson accused The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne of "resorting to ever increasingly desperate tactics", adding "To suggest that any economic model can predict what our economy let alone the EU and world economy will look like in 14 years time is totally dishonest". As the DUP's Brexit spokesman, Wilson said in January 2019 it was "perfectly possible" that Theresa May would be able to negotiate a revised withdrawal agreement which removes the Northern Ireland backstop. On 29 January 2019, during a debate in the House of Commons, Wilson responded to