Andrew Allen (born 2 November 1988) is an

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, 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 l ...

(UUP) politician in Northern Ireland and a former soldier in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. He served in the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

in 2008. He is one of the more liberal members of the party, consistently voting in favour of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

and abortion. Allen is the UUP spokesperson for

Communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...

, and has been a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ; ) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 elected members – five from each of 18 constituencies, the boundaries o ...

(MLA) for Belfast East since 2015.

Biography

Since September 2015, Allen has sat in the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) for Belfast East. He was co-opted to replace Michael Copeland, who had resigned his seat for health reasons. He has been re-elected three times, first in May 2016, then in March 2017, and most recently in May 2022. He is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan, and was left a double above knee amputee and partially blind as a result of an attack by the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

Helmand Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 18 ...

using an improvised explosive device. He featured in the BAFTA winning documentary, "Wounded." The documentary followed his journey from being injured in Afghanistan, which was caught on camera by one of his colleagues to his admission to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, and his overall recovery. He is the founder of AA Veterans Support a charity setup to provide support to service personnel, veterans and their families in Northern Ireland. He was awarded an MBE in the 2019 New Years Honour list for Service to Veterans and their families in Northern Ireland. In November 2023, as the UUP's Communities Spokesperson, Allen met with

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representatives and called for non-teaching school staff to receive fair pay and employment terms.

References

External links

Northern Ireland Assembly profileUlster Unionist Party profile
1988 births Living people Politicians from Belfast Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 British Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Royal Irish Regiment (1992) soldiers British amputees People from Northern Ireland with disabilities British politicians with disabilities Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{NorthernIreland-politician-stub