John Stewart | |
---|---|
Deputy Chairperson of the Infrastructure Committee | |
Assumed office 6 February 2024 | |
Ulster Unionist Chief Whip | |
Assumed office 25 May 2021 | |
Leader | Doug Beattie |
Preceded by | Robbie Butler |
Ulster Unionist Party spokesperson for the Executive Office | |
Assumed office 25 May 2021 | |
Leader | Doug Beattie |
Ulster Unionist Party spokesperson for Infrastructure | |
Assumed office 25 May 2021 | |
Leader | Doug Beattie |
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for East Antrim | |
Assumed office 2 March 2017 | |
Preceded by | Alastair Ross |
Member of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council | |
In office 22 May 2014 –2 March 2017 | |
Preceded by | Council established |
Succeeded by | Robin Stewart |
Constituency | Carrick Castle |
Member of Carrickfergus Borough Council | |
In office 5 May 2011 –22 May 2014 | |
Preceded by | Roy Beggs Jr |
Succeeded by | Council abolished |
Constituency | Knockagh |
Personal details | |
Born | Carrickfergus,Northern Ireland | 9 April 1983
Nationality | British |
Political party | Ulster Unionist Party |
Spouse | Deborah Stewart |
Children | 2 |
Alma mater | University of Cardiff |
Occupation | Politician |
Profession | Sales director |
John Stewart (born 9 April 1983) is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and businessman who has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim since 2017. [1] [2] Stewart is Deputy Chairperson of the Assembly's Infrastructure Committee.
Stewart was born on 9 April 1983. [3] He was educated at Carrickfergus Grammar School,a controlled grammar school in Carrickfergus,County Antrim,Northern Ireland. [4] He studied history at Cardiff University,graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. [5]
Before his election to the assembly,Stewart worked as the sales director of his family's business,Robinson's Shoemakers,which is based in Carrickfergus,County Antrim. [5]
Stewart serves in the Army Reserve (formally known as the Territorial Army). [3] He is a soldier of the North Irish Horse. [5]
Stewart joined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in 2008. [6] He was elected to Carrickfergus Borough Council in the 2011 local elections as a councillor for the Knockagh Monument electoral area. [7] In 2014,he was elected to the newly created Mid and East Antrim Borough Council for Carrick Castle. [8] He served as Deputy Mayor of Carrickfergus 2013–14.
On 2 March 2017,Stewart was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for East Antrim in stage 9 of the count. [9] In the 2022 Assembly election,he polled 6195 votes and was re-elected after the third count.
Stewart is the Ulster Unionist Party's Infrastructure spokesperson. In August 2023,he called for action to tackle MoT waiting lists and outlined that the UUP would reuse the Temporary Exemption Certificates,used at the height of the pandemic,"to allow backlogs to be cleared and fines to be appealed." [10]
On 24 August 2023,Stewart called for the Kilroot coal-powered power station to be kept open during the coming winter,this followed news that the gas turbines to replace coal would not be commissioned on time. [11]
He ran as the UUP's candidate in East Antrim at the 2024 general election. In total,Stewart polled 9,476 votes (23.9%),a 7.3% increase. [12] [13]
Stewart is married to Deborah. [6] He has two sons,Cohen and Harrison. He also has 2 office dogs Jaxon and Henry. [8]
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905,emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson,it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movement. Following the partition of Ireland,it was the governing party of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. It was supported by most unionist voters throughout the conflict known as the Troubles,during which time it was often referred to as the Official Unionist Party (OUP).
Carrickfergus is a large town in County Antrim,Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough,11 miles (18 km) from Belfast. The town had a population of 28,141 at the 2021 census. It is County Antrim's oldest town and one of the oldest towns in Ireland as a whole. Carrickfergus Castle,built in the late 12th century at the behest of Anglo-Norman knight John de Courcy,was the capital of the Earldom of Ulster. After the earldom's collapse,it remained the only English outpost in Ulster for the next four centuries. Carrickfergus was the administrative centre for Carrickfergus Borough Council,before this was amalgamated into the Mid and East Antrim District Council in 2015,and forms part of the Belfast Metropolitan Area. It is also a townland of 65 acres,a civil parish and a barony.
John Robert Beggs,commonly known as Roy Beggs,is a Northern Irish unionist politician and former teacher. Formerly a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),he defected to the rival Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in 1981. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for East Antrim from 1983 to 2005,and was a Larne Borough Councillor from 1973 to 2014,representing the district of Larne Area B and its successor,Larne Lough.
Roy Beggs Jr is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician,serving as a Mid and East Antrim Councillor for the Larne Lough DEA since 2023. Beggs served as a Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2011 to 2016,and 2020 to 2022. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 1998 to 2022.
East Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. It is currently represented by Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party.
Larne Borough Council was a Local Council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymena Borough Council and Carrickfergus Borough Council in May 2015 under the reorganisation of local government in Northern Ireland to become Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.
Fred Cobain,MBE is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician from Northern Ireland,serving as a Belfast City Councillor for the Castle DEA since 2019. He was previously an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North from 1998 until 2011.
Jim Wilson is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was Deputy speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2002 to 2007. A member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP),he was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim from 1998 to 2007.
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.
Robert David Stewart Campbell,CBE,usually known as David Campbell,is a Northern Irish unionist politician,Ulster Loyalist activist,farmer and businessman. He was a member of the 1996–1998 Northern Ireland Forum,and Chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2005 to 2012.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties,the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom. A founding precept of the party is that "nothing which is morally wrong can be politically right".
Captain Robert Austin Ardill MC was a Northern Irish unionist politician.
James Anderson Craig was a Northern Irish unionist politician who was a founder member of,and early leading figure in,the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
Daniel de Burgh Kinahan is a British army officer and former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician who was Veterans Commissioner for Northern Ireland between 2020 and 2024.
The fourth Northern Ireland Assembly was the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland following the 2011 assembly election on 5 May 2011. This iteration of the elected Assembly convened for the first time on 12 May 2011 in Parliament Buildings in Stormont,and ran for a full term.
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.
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.
Stephen Ronald Aiken is a Northern Irish politician,serving as the Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2024.
Kilroot was one of the three district electoral areas in Carrickfergus,Northern Ireland which existed from 1985 to 2014. The district elected five members to Carrickfergus Borough Council from 1985 to 1993,and six members from 1993 to 2014,and formed part of the East Antrim constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.
Colin Crawford is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician who has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim since July 2024.