Robin Newton | |
---|---|
5th Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly | |
In office 12 May 2016 –11 January 2020 | |
Deputy | Caitríona Ruane Patsy McGlone Danny Kennedy |
Preceded by | Mitchel McLaughlin |
Succeeded by | Alex Maskey |
Principal Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly | |
In office 20 January 2015 –12 May 2016 | |
Preceded by | Mitchel McLaughlin |
Succeeded by | Caitríona Ruane |
Junior Minister at the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister | |
In office 1 July 2009 –16 May 2011 Servingwith Gerry Kelly | |
Preceded by | Jeffrey Donaldson |
Succeeded by | Jonathan Bell |
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast East | |
In office 26 November 2003 –28 March 2022 | |
Preceded by | Sammy Wilson |
Succeeded by | David Brooks |
Personal details | |
Born | Belfast,Northern Ireland | 21 December 1945
Nationality | British |
Political party | Democratic Unionist Party |
Spouse | Carole Newton |
Children | 2 |
Website | Robin Newton MLA |
Robin Gray Newton (born 21 December 1945) is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 2003 to 2022,and was a junior minister in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister from 2009 to 2011.
Newton is a chief executive of a management consultancy company and a member of the East Belfast Partnership Board,which promotes economic development in East Belfast. He served as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 12 May 2016 until 11 January 2020. He and his wife Carole have two children. [1]
Newton was first elected to Belfast City Council in 1985. Newton is chairman of the Waterfront Hall board. He was an unsuccessful candidate in East Belfast in the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum election. [2] He was elected as a DUP member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for East Belfast in 2003. [1]
After the 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election,he was the deputy chair of the Development Committee. He takes particular interest in housing matters,the elderly,health services and employment opportunities. Newton is the DUP party spokesperson for Enterprise,Trade and Investment. [3] On 12 May 2016 he was elected Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. [4]
In 2022,Newton was deselected as a DUP candidate and as a result will not contest the 2022 Assembly election. [5]
First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson announced on 22 June 2009 that Robin Newton would replace Jeffrey Donaldson as junior minister in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister at the beginning of the new assembly term in September 2009. [6] This reshuffle took place due to Robinson's plans to phase out "double jobbing" amongst elected representatives. Newton was sworn in as junior minister by the speaker,William Hay,on 1 July 2009,and served until 16 May 2011. From 2011 until 2012,he was a Political Member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. [7]
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded 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).
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist,loyalist,and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley,who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by Jeffrey Donaldson,it is the second largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly,and is the fifth-largest party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The party has been described as right-wing and socially conservative,being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and Irish republicanism;the party is Eurosceptic and supported Brexit. It supports Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom and opposes the unification of Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Assembly,often referred to by the metonym Stormont,is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom,and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive. It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast.
Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997,and leader of the DUP in the UK House of Commons since 2019. As of 2022,he is Northern Ireland's longest-serving MP.
Peter Weir 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.
Edwin Poots is a British politician in Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from May to June 2021. He was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in 1998,and was appointed Minister of Agriculture,Environment,and Rural Affairs in January 2020.
The 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday,7 March 2007. It was the third election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two largest parties,the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin,along with the Alliance Party,increase their support,with falls in support for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
Jim Wells is a Northern Ireland politician,formerly of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 1998 to 2022;he was one the longest serving MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Wells is also a former Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly,and was a councillor on Down District Council from 2001 to 2011.
William Alexander Hay,Baron Hay of Ballyore is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician,who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 1998 to 2014.
John McCallister is a Northern Irish Unionist politician. In 2007,he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) member for South Down. On 14 February 2013,McCallister announced that he had resigned from the UUP due to its decision to engage in an electoral pact with the Democratic Unionist Party. He was a co-founder of the NI21 party with fellow ex-UUP member Basil McCrea but resigned the following year following disputes with McCrea. He re-contested his seat as an Independent at the 2016 election but lost his seat,receiving just 2.8% of the vote.
The Northern Ireland Conservatives is a section of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party that operates in Northern Ireland. 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 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".
The 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday,5 May,following the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly at midnight on 24 March 2011. It was the fourth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998.
Jonathan Fergus Bell is a former Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
The 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday,5 May 2016. It was the fifth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. 1,281,595 individuals were registered to vote in the election. Turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 703,744 (54.9%),a decline of less than one percentage point from the previous Assembly Election in 2011,but down 15 percentage points from the first election to the Assembly held in 1998.
The 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday,2 March 2017. The election was held to elect members (MLAs) following the resignation of deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in protest over the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. McGuinness' position was not filled,and thus by law his resignation triggered an election.
The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months after the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed due to the resignation of the First Minister,Paul Givan (DUP),in protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The Executive of the 7th Northern Ireland Assembly is yet to be appointed,following the 2022 election to the seventh Northern Ireland Assembly held on 5 May. The newly elected assembly will meet for the first time on 13 May,and may elect a First Minister and Deputy First Minister,as well as an executive.