Carla Rebecca Lockhart (born 28 February 1985) is a

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

(DUP) politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper Bann since the 2019 general election. She currently serves as the DUP spokesperson for environment, food and rural affairs. She was previously 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 ...

for Upper Bann from 2016 to 2019.

Early life and career

Carla Rebecca Lockhart was born to Kenneth and Valerie Lockhart in Aughnacloy,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, as part of a working-class family. She attended Aughnacloy High School, before attending Armagh Tech (now part of Southern Regional College) and then obtaining a business degree from the

University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

. Interested in politics from a young age, she was a member of the DUP's Young Democrats in her youth.

Political career

Lockhart was elected to

Craigavon Borough Council Craigavon Borough Council was a local council in counties Armagh, Down and Antrim, in Northern Ireland. It merged with Armagh City and District Council and Banbridge District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Nor ...

in 2007, representing the

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rail ...

area. She was Mayor of Craigavon from 2012 to 2013, and stepped down in 2016 to run for the Assembly elections. Lockhart was President of the Local Government Association of Northern Ireland from 2015 to 2016. She worked full-time in the Lurgan DUP Advice Centre under Stephen Moutray, whilst working as a councillor. Lockhart was elected as an MLA for Upper Bann in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. On 8 November 2019, Lockhart announced her candidacy for the Upper Bann Westminster constituency at the 2019 general election. On 13 December, Lockhart won the seat in Westminster, succeeding the retiring MP David Simpson, and stepped down from her seat as MLA for Upper Bann. Lockhart is a governor at Lurgan Junior High School and Magheralin Primary School. Despite previously stating during a 2017 interview that having no functioning

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive (Irish language, Irish: ''Feidhmeannas Thuaisceart Éireann'', Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster Scots: ''Norlin Airlan Executive'') is the devolution, devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branc ...

was one of the biggest problems facing the citizens of Northern Ireland, in November 2022 Lockhart defended the DUP's collapse of the same institutions by claiming the party had a democratic mandate to do so. In December 2022, Lockhart, Miriam Cates and

Rosie Duffield Rosemary Clare Duffield (born 1 July 1971) is a British politician who was elected as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency), Canterbury in 2017 United Kingdom general election ...

signed a cross-party letter asking the British Government to block the Scottish Government's Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. Lockhart retained her seat, with a decreased majority of 7,406 votes, at the 2024 general election. Despite a reduced majority, she increased her share of the vote to 45.7%, being the only DUP MP to do so. In April 2025, Lockhart called for

Kneecap The patella (: patellae or patellas), also known as the kneecap, is a flat, rounded triangular bone which articulates with the femur (thigh bone) and covers and protects the anterior articular surface of the knee joint. The patella is found in m ...

to be denied entry to the USA and Canada ahead of their US-Canada tour after allegations of the rap trio calling for the death of British MPs and shouting "up

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

, up

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

" in previous gigs.

Personal life

Lockhart is a member of the

Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster :''Distinct from Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)'' The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster is a Calvinist denomination founded by Ian Paisley in 1951. Doctrinally, the church describes itself as Fundam ...

. She is married to Rodney Condell, a

quantity surveyor In the construction industry, a quantity surveyor (QS) is a professional with expert knowledge of construction costs and contracting. Qualified professional quantity surveyors can be known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) i ...

References

External links

*
Northern Ireland Assembly biographyAppearances
on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockhart, Carla Living people UK MPs 2019–2024 UK MPs 2024–present Politicians from County Tyrone Alumni of Ulster University Democratic Unionist Party MLAs Democratic Unionist Party MPs Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies Mayors of Craigavon Members of Craigavon Borough Council Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Upper Bann People from Craigavon, County Armagh Presbyterians from Northern Ireland Women mayors of places in Northern Ireland 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland 1985 births Women councillors in Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party councillors People from Aughnacloy, County Tyrone