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]
Career
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]
References
- ^ DUP warn Lady Sylvia Hermon that she is 'being put on notice', The Irish News, 7 May 2016
- ^ Ballyholme and Groomsport by-election result Archived 1 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Electoral office of Northern Ireland, accessed 9 May 2016
- ^ North Down local election results, Ark.ac.uk, accessed 9 May 2016
- ^ Four injured in loyalist bomb attack, The Guardian, 19 September 2000
- ^ The 1995 North Down and Ards election results, Ark.ac.uk, accessed 9 May 2016
- ^ The 1995 North Down by-election, Ark.ac.uk, accessed 9 May 2016
- ^ Northern Ireland forum election results, Ark.ac.uk, accessed 9 May 2016
- ^ a b c d e North Down election results, Ark.ac.uk, accessed 9 May 2016
- ^ Veteran independent councillor Alan Chambers joins UUP, Belfast Telegraph, 11 December 2015
- ^ "North Down Parliamentary constituency". BBC News Online. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Previous Policing Board Members". www.nipolicingboard.org.uk.
- ^ "Cancer services spiralling into ever deeper crisis due to ongoing political impasse – Chambers". UUP Live. Retrieved 8 August 2023.