John Blair | |
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![]() Blair in 2024 | |
Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly | |
Assumed office 3 February 2024 Servingwith Carál Ní Chuilín and Steve Aiken | |
Preceded by | Roy Beggs Jr (2022) |
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Antrim | |
Assumed office 27 June 2018 | |
Preceded by | David Ford |
Member of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council | |
In office 22 May 2014 –27 June 2018 | |
Preceded by | Council created |
Succeeded by | Julian McGrath |
Constituency | Glengormley Urban |
Member of Newtownabbey Borough Council | |
In office 5 May 2011 –22 May 2014 | |
Preceded by | Tom Campbell |
Succeeded by | Council abolished |
Constituency | Antrim Line |
In office 21 May 1997 –7 June 2001 | |
Preceded by | Elizabeth Frazer |
Succeeded by | Briege Meehan |
Constituency | Antrim Line |
In office 19 May 1993 –21 May 1997 | |
Preceded by | District created |
Succeeded by | Billy Webb |
Constituency | Macedon |
In office 17 May 1989 –19 May 1993 | |
Preceded by | Jim Allister |
Succeeded by | District abolished |
Constituency | Doagh Road |
Personal details | |
Born | 10 February 1966 |
Nationality | Northern Irish |
Political party | Alliance |
Other political affiliations | Newtownabbey Ratepayers' Association (1997–2005) [1] |
Occupation | Politician |
Website | http://www.johnblairmla.com/ |
John Kenneth Blair (born 10 February 1966) is an Alliance Party politician serving as the Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2024. Blair has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim since 2018. He is the first openly gay member of the Assembly. [2] [3]
John Blair was elected as a councillor to Newtownabbey Borough Council for the Newtonabbey Ratepayers' Association in the 1997 Local Elections,but lost his seat at the 2001 Local Elections after his vote decreased from 6.7% to 3.7%. He attempted to take a different seat the following 2005 elections,but was unsuccessful. [1]
Blair was elected to Newtownabbey Borough Council in the 2011 local elections,representing Antrim Line DEA as an Alliance candidate. He topped the poll and was elected on the first count with 15.96% of the FPVs. [4] He was re-elected to the new Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in 2014,representing the Glengormley Urban DEA. [1] [5]
In 2018,he was co-opted to fill former Alliance Party Leader David Ford's Assembly seat in South Antrim,following David Ford's resignation. [6] Blair has been appointed to the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly and the Northern Ireland Policing Board. [7] [8]
He ran as the Alliance Party candidate for South Antrim in the 2019 General Election,increasing Alliance's share of the vote by 11.7% - from 7.4% to 19.4% - and taking third place. [9]
Blair ran at the 2022 Assembly election,taking 7,315 FPVs (16%),and was re-elected on Stage 2.
He is contesting South Antrim at the 2024 United Kingdom general election. [10]
Blair is the first openly gay MLA to sit in the Northern Ireland Assembly. [11] [12] Blair has faced harassment due to his sexuality,including from a DUP councillor who sat on the same policing board alongside Blair. [13]
Newtownabbey Borough Council was a Local Authority in County Antrim in Northern Ireland,on the north shore of Belfast Lough just immediately north of Belfast. The Council merged with Antrim Borough Council in April 2015 under local government reform in Northern Ireland to form Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.
David Ford is a former Northern Irish politician,who was leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland from October 2001 until October 2016 and was Northern Ireland Minister of Justice from April 2010 until May 2016. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim from 1998 to 2018.
Thomas Burns MLA is a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim from 2003 to 2011.
William Paul Girvan is a Northern Irish politician who was the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim from 2017 to 2024. Girvan has been the DUP's spokesperson for Transport. He was previously a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim from 2003 to 2007,and then from 2010 to 2017.
William Alexander Fraser Agnew,known as Fraser Agnew,is a retired Northern Irish unionist politician who was an Antrim and Newtownabbey Councillor for the Three Mile Water DEA from 2014 to 2023. He was previously an Independent Unionist Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North from 1998 to 2003.
Norman Boyd is a Northern Irish unionist politician who served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim from 1998 to 2003.
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council is a local authority that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaces Antrim Borough Council and Newtownabbey Borough Council. A statutory transition committee was established in 2013 to prepare for the merger. The first elections to the authority were on 22 May 2014 with 73 candidates standing for 40 seats. The authority acted in shadow form until the formal creation of the Antrim and Newtownabbey district on 1 April 2015.
Oliver McMullan is an Irish Sinn Féin politician,serving as a Causeway Coast and Glens councillor for The Glens DEA since 2019. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 2011 to 2017. He was also a Larne Borough Councillor,between May and November 2011.
Stewart Dickson is an Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician who has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim since 2011.
Paula Bradley is a Northern Irish unionist politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from May 2021 to June 2023,and an Antrim and Newtownabbey Councillor for the Glengormley Urban DEA since 2022. She was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North from 2011 to 2022. She also served as Deputy Mayor of Newtownabbey Borough Council from 2009 to 2010.
Adrian Cochrane-Watson is a former Northern Irish unionist politician who was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim between 2015 and 2016. He previously served as an Antrim Councillor for the Antrim Town DEA from 1997 to 2014.
Declan Kearney is an Irish republican politician in Northern Ireland who is the current National Chairman of Sinn Féin. Kearney was a Junior Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2020 to 2022,and a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim since 2016.
Andrew Muir is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Minister of Agriculture,Environment and Rural Affairs since February 2024. He is an Alliance Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Down. He was appointed as an MLA following incumbent Alliance MLA Stephen Farry's election as MP for North Down in the 2019 UK general election,and elected in the constituency in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election.
Danny Donnelly is an Alliance Party politician,serving as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim since May 2022.
Eóin Tennyson is a Northern Irish Alliance Party politician who has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann since the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election.
Phillip Brett is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician,serving as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North since 2022. Brett is the infrastructure spokesperson for the DUP.
Connie Egan is a Northern Irish politician who is an Alliance Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). She was elected as an MLA in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election for North Down.
Glengormley Urban is one of the seven district electoral areas (DEA) in Antrim and Newtownabbey,Northern Ireland. The district elects seven members to Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council and contains the wards of Ballyhenry,Burnthill,Carnmoney,Collinbridge,Glebe,Glengormley and Hightown. Glengormley Urban forms part of the Belfast North constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament and part of the South Antrim constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.
Antrim Line was one of the district electoral areas in Newtownabbey,Northern Ireland which existed from 1985 to 2014,one of five DEAs until 1993 and one of four DEAs until 2014. The district elected five members to Newtownabbey Borough Council until 1993 and seven members until 2014,and formed part of the South Antrim constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament and part of the Belfast North constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.
Newtownabbey Area D was one of the four district electoral areas in Newtownabbey,Northern Ireland which existed from 1973 to 1985. The district elected five members to Newtownabbey Borough Council,and formed part of the South Antrim constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.