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Sorcha Eastwood

Sorcha Eastwood
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament
for Lagan Valley
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 July 2024
Preceded byJeffrey Donaldson
Majority2,959 (6.0%)
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Lagan Valley
In office
5 May 2022 – 5 July 2024
Preceded byTrevor Lunn
Succeeded byMichelle Guy
Member of
Lisburn & Castlereagh Council
In office
7 May 2019 – 5 May 2022
Preceded byGeraldine Rice
Succeeded byFiona Cole
ConstituencyCastlereagh South
Personal details
Born
Sorcha-Lucy Eastwood

October 1985 (age 38)
Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Political partyAlliance
Spouse
Dale Shirlow
​
(m. 2017)​
[1]
OccupationPolitician

Sorcha-Lucy Eastwood[2] (born October 1985) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 2024. A member of the Alliance Party, she previously served as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2022 until her election to the House of Commons in 2024.

Early life and education

Sorcha Eastwood was born in Lisburn in 1985, and has lived there her whole life. She has characterised her family as "political but not party political" and "very community-minded". She has a mixed loyalist and republican background, and her family volunteered across both communities. Eastwood describes her father as "a very violent man"; her experiences with domestic violence growing up were one of the factors that inspired her to get involved in politics. Her mother was dyslexic and left school at 15. She also has relatives with other disabilities, which sparked a lifelong interest in disability rights.[3]

Eastwood attended St Joseph's Primary School and St Dominic's Grammar School for Girls in Belfast.[4] She studied law and politics for a year at university before dropping out and starting an apprenticeship in retail management at Tesco, becoming one of their youngest store managers on a pilot scheme. She then studied business and economics at Ulster University, with a special interest in human resources and employment.

Political career

Early career (2017–2022)

Sorcha Eastwood ran in the 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election as an Alliance Party candidate in Belfast West. She received 747 first preference votes and was eliminated on the first count.[5]

She was an Alliance candidate again later that year, this time for the 2017 United Kingdom general election, running in Belfast West. She came 5th, with 731 votes, roughly maintaining Alliance's percentage share of the vote from the previous general election.[6]

She was elected in May 2019 as a councillor on Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, representing the district electoral area of Castlereagh South. In that election, she topped the poll with 1,629 first preference votes and was elected on the first count.[7]

Later that year, she was the Alliance Party candidate for Lagan Valley in the 2019 general election, polling 28.8% of the vote (an increase of 17.7%), coming second behind the DUP incumbent Jeffrey Donaldson, while reducing his majority from 19,229 to 6,499.[8]

In 2020, Eastwood was awarded compensation after suing a former DUP councillor for accusing her of being an "IRA mouthpiece".[9]

Member of the Legislative Assembly (2022–2024)

Sorcha Eastwood, alongside David Honeyford, was an Alliance candidate for the 2022 Assembly election in Lagan Valley. She polled 8,211 first preference votes and was elected on the fourth count.[10] She took the seat formerly held by Alliance Party turned Independent MLA Trevor Lunn, who did not run for re-election.[11]

She appeared on BBC Question Time for the first time on 19 October 2023 in Lisburn.[12]

Member of Parliament (2024)

Eastwood ran again in Lagan Valley at the 2024 general election, winning the seat with 18,618 votes (37.9%), a majority of 2,959 (6.0%). [13][14][15] She is the first non-unionist MP to be elected for the constituency.[16]

On 5 November 2024, Eastwood joined the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee (NIAC).[17]

Personal life

On 8 June 2017, Eastwood married Dale Shirlow in Lisburn. With her wedding on the same day as the 2017 UK general election, Eastwood cast an election ballot in her wedding dress.[18]

In 2023, she publicly criticised Belfast City Hospital where her husband was being treated for a rare blood cancer.[19]

References

  1. ^ Simpson, Fiona (8 June 2017). "New bride takes to Election polls in her wedding dress... and votes for herself". Evening Standard. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  2. ^ "No. 8702". The Belfast Gazette. 22 July 2024. p. 62.
  3. ^ https://5050ni.com/2022/04/25/5050-ni-meets-sorcha-eastwood/
  4. ^ Spence, Julie-Ann (7 August 2024). "No issue is too big or too small for Lagan Valley's new MP, who has already 'hit the ground running'". Northern Ireland World.
  5. ^ "NI Assembly Election 2017 - Result Sheets". The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  6. ^ "General Election 2017 Results For Belfast West". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Local Council Election Results". The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  8. ^ "Lagan Valley parliamentary constituency - Election 2019 - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Sorcha Eastwood gets pay-out over 'IRA mouthpiece' tweet". BBC News. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Lagan Valley: Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 2022 Results". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  11. ^ Hughes, Brendan (22 February 2021). "I quit Alliance due to tensions but I still support them, says MLA". BelfastLive. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  12. ^ "BBC One - Question Time, 2023, 19/10/2023". BBC. 19 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Election result for Lagan Valley (Constituency)". UK Parliament. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  14. ^ @allianceparty (27 January 2024). "Alliance has announced @SorchaEastwood will contest the forthcoming Westminster election as a candidate for Lagan Valley" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ^ "Lagan Valley results". BBC News. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Alliance's Sorcha Eastwood becomes first non-unionist to win Lagan Valley constituency". Irish Times. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  17. ^ "Northern Ireland Affairs Committee membership appointed - Committees - UK Parliament". committees.parliament.uk. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  18. ^ "General Election 2017: Northern Ireland election candidate bride Eastwood casts vote in wedding dress days after undergoing surgery for 'nasty' dog bite". Belfast Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  19. ^ "Sorcha Eastwood criticises 'abysmal' conditions in husband's Belfast hospital ward". Belfast Telegraph. 28 August 2023. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
Northern Ireland Assembly
Preceded by Member of the Legislative Assembly
for Lagan Valley
2022–2024 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Lagan Valley
2024–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from "https://en.Wik.ipedia.Pro.org/w/index.php?title=Sorcha_Eastwood&oldid=1264154510"

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