Alan Chambers | |
---|---|
Chairperson of the Audits Committee | |
Assumed office 6 February 2024 | |
Deputy | Keith Buchanan |
Acting Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly | |
In office 30 May 2022 –3 February 2024 | |
Succeeded by | Edwin Poots |
Ulster Unionist Party spokesperson for Health | |
Assumed office 25 May 2021 | |
Leader | Doug Beattie |
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Down | |
Assumed office 5 May 2016 | |
Preceded by | Leslie Cree |
Member of Ards and North Down Borough Council | |
In office 22 May 2014 –5 May 2016 | |
Preceded by | Council established |
Succeeded by | David Chambers |
Constituency | Bangor East and Donaghadee |
Mayor of North Down | |
In office 2000–2001 | |
Preceded by | Marion Smith |
Succeeded by | Ian Henry |
Member of North Down Borough Council | |
In office 17 April 1991 –22 May 2014 | |
Preceded by | Edmund Mills |
Succeeded by | Council abolished |
Constituency | Ballyholme and Groomsport |
Personal details | |
Born | Belfast,Northern Ireland | 15 October 1947
Nationality | British |
Political party | Ulster Unionist Party (2015 - present) |
Other political affiliations | Independent Unionist (1991 - 2015) |
Occupation | Politician |
Profession | Shopkeeper |
Alan Chambers (born 15 October 1947) is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was acting Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly between 2022 and 2024. Chambers has been an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down since 2016. He currently serves as Chairperson of the Assembly's Audit Committee. [1]
Chambers was elected to North Down Borough Council in a by-election on 17 April 1991 as an Independent,representing the Ballyholme and Groomsport electoral area. [2] He was re-elected in several subsequent elections,topping the poll in the elections of 1993,1997 and 2001,and elected as the second candidate in 2005 and 2011. [3] He served as Mayor of North Down for the 2000–2001 term. [4] Following the abolition of North Down council,Chambers was elected to the successor council of North Down and Ards at the 2014 elections,topping the poll in the Bangor East and Donaghadee area. [5]
Chambers contested the 1995 Westminster by-election in North Down,finishing fourth with 8% of the vote. [6]
At the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum elections,Chambers headed his own Independent Chambers list. However,the list was unsuccessful,polling 567 votes (0.08%) across Northern Ireland, [7] with Chambers receiving the majority of these in North Down,representing 1% of the total vote in that constituency. [8] He contested North Down as an independent at each subsequent Assembly election,receiving 3.7% of first preferences in 1998, [8] 3.5% in 2003, [8] 3.7% in 2007 [8] and 6.3% in 2011. [8]
In December 2015,Chambers joined the UUP [9] and was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly at the 2016 election.
He stood for the North Down constituency in the 2019 General Election for the UUP,finishing third with 12.1% of the vote. [10] He currently represents the UUP on the Health Committee in the Assembly and is the party spokesperson on Health. He also served as a member of the NI Policing Board between December 2018 and June 2020. [11]
Following the 2022 Assembly election,he served in the chair as acting Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly,during attempts to restore the Northern Ireland Executive,following the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)’s decision to withdraw from the executive in February that same year.
As UUP Health spokesperson,in August 2023,Chambers called for the Northern Ireland Executive to be restored immediately to "begin investing in cancer services" and to ensure that a cancer strategy is implemented. He warned that cancer services in Northern Ireland are "spiralling into ever deeper crisis due to ongoing political impasse." [12]
Nigel Alexander Dodds,Baron Dodds of Duncairn,,is a Northern Irish unionist politician and barrister serving as Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the House of Lords since 2021. He previously served as deputy leader of the DUP from 2008 to 2021 and leader of the DUP in the House of Commons from 2010 to 2019.
North Down Borough Council was a Local Council in County Down in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ards Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become North Down and Ards District Council.
North Down is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Stephen Farry of the Alliance Party. Farry was elected to the position in the 2019 general election,replacing the incumbent Sylvia Hermon. Hermon had held the position since being elected to it in the 2001 general election,but chose not to contest in 2019.
Peter James Weir,Baron Weir of Ballyholme is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who served as Minister for Education in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2016 to 2017 and from 2020 to 2021. Weir was the first non-Sinn Féin legislator to head the Department of Education since the department came into existence on 2 December 1999.
Alex Easton MLA is a Northern Irish Independent Unionist politician,serving as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down since 2003.
David McNarry is a former Northern Irish unionist politician and Ulster Loyalist representative who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Strangford from 2003 to 2016.
The Northern Ireland Conservatives is a section of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party that operates in Northern Ireland. The Conservative are the only major British party to field candidates within Northern Ireland and typically contests only a fraction of seats in elections. The party won 0.03% of the vote in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election and 0.7% of the vote in the 2019 United Kingdom General election in Northern Ireland.
The first election to North Down and Ards District Council,part of the Northern Ireland local elections on 22 May 2014,returned 40 members to the newly formed council via Single Transferable Vote. The Democratic Unionist Party won a plurality of first-preference votes and seats.
The Ulster Unionist Party held the majority of Northern Ireland seats in most elections for the Westminster Parliament between 1922 and 2001. Since then its representation has been low or non-existent,having been eclipsed by the Democratic Unionist Party. It always had an absolute majority in the Stormont Parliament (1921–1972);since that Parliament was replaced by the Northern Ireland Assembly it has had a substantial minority representation there. Its share of the vote in Northern Ireland local government elections has tended to diminish,so that there too it is no longer the largest party. Finally,the party has always held one of the three Northern Ireland seats in the European Parliament. Its share of the Northern Ireland vote in the most recent elections to these bodies has been between 10.5% and 16.1%.
Elections to North Down Borough Council were held on 5 May 2011 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 25 councillors.
Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 7 June 2001 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.
Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.
Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 17 councillors.
Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 18 May 1977 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 17 councillors.
Bangor Central is one of the seven district electoral areas (DEA) in Ards and North Down,Northern Ireland. The district elects six members to Ards and North Down Borough Council and contains the wards of Ballygrainey,Ballyholme,Bloomfield,Broadway,Castle and Harbour. Bangor Central forms greater of the North Down constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.
Bangor East and Donaghadee is one of the seven district electoral areas (DEA) in Ards and North Down,Northern Ireland. The district elects six members to Ards and North Down Borough Council and contains the wards of Ballycrochan,Ballymagee,Donaghadee,Groomsport,Silverbirch and Warren. Bangor East and Donaghadee forms part of the North Down constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.
Newtownards is one of the seven district electoral areas (DEA) in Ards and North Down,Northern Ireland. The district elects five members to Ards and North Down Borough Council and contains the wards of Conway Square,Cronstown,Glen,Gregstown,Movilla,Scrabo and West Winds. Newtownards forms part of the Strangford constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.
Ballyholme and Groomsport was one of the four district electoral areas in North Down,Northern Ireland which existed from 1985 to 2014. The district elected six members to North Down Borough Council until 1993 and seven members until 2014,and formed part of the North Down constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.
North Down Area A was one of the four district electoral areas in North Down,Northern Ireland which existed from 1973 to 1985. The district elected five members to North Down Borough Council,and formed part of the North Down constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.