Carla Rebecca Lockhart (born 28 February 1985) is a

Democratic Unionist Party 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 ...

(DUP) politician, who has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for Upper Bann since the 2019 general election. She was previously a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ga, Comhaltaí den Tionól Reachtach; sco-ulster, Laa-Makkan Forgaitherars) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 ...

for Upper Bann, elected at the

2016 election The following elections occurred in the year 2016. Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 A ...

, until 2019.

Early life and career

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. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retain ...

, as part of a working-class family. She attended

Aughnacloy High School Aughnacloy College is a secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education ...

, before attending Armagh Tech (now part of Southern Regional College) and then obtaining a business degree from the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

. 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 County Armagh, Armagh, County Down, Down and County Antrim, Antrim, in Northern Ireland. It merged with Armagh City and District Council and Banbridge District Council in May 2015 under l ...

in 2007, representing the

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a populatio ...

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 Alderman Stephen William Moutray (born 25 February 1959) is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician in Northern Ireland. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland), Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Ba ...

, whilst working as a councillor. Lockhart was elected as an MLA for Upper Bann in 2016. 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 Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rai ...

and Magheralin Primary School. In December 2022, Lockhart,

Miriam Cates Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The Tora ...

and

Rosie Duffield Rosemary Clare Duffield (born 1 July 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Canterbury since 2017. Early life Rosemary Clare Duffield was born on 1 July 1971 in Norwich, Norfolk, England and l ...

signed a cross-party letter asking the British Government to block the Scottish Government's

Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill is a bill passed by the Scottish Parliament. The bill seeks to amend the Gender Recognition Act 2004 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, making it simpler for people to change their legal gende ...

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 ( ga, Eaglais Phreispitéireach Saor Uladh) is a Calvinist denomination founded by Ian Paisley in 1951. Doct ...

. She is married to Rodney Condell, a

quantity surveyor A quantity surveyor (QS) is a construction industry professional with expert knowledge on construction costs and contracts. Qualified professional quantity surveyors are known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) in the UK and Cer ...

References

External links

*
Northern Ireland Assembly biographyAppearances
on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United Stat ...

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Living people UK MPs 2019–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 {{NorthernIreland-UK-MP-stub