Sorcha-Lucy Eastwood (born October 1985) is an Alliance Party politician who was elected to the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = ...

from

Lagan Valley The Lagan Valley (, Ulster Scots: ''Glen Lagan'') is an area of Northern Ireland between Belfast and Lisburn. The River Lagan rises on Slieve Croob in County Down and flows generally northward discharging into Belfast Lough. For a section, the ...

in the 2022 Assembly election.

Political career

Early career (2017–2022)

Sorcha Eastwood ran in the

2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday, 2 March 2017. The election was held to elect members ( MLAs) following the resignation of deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in protest over the Renewable Heat Incentive sc ...

as an Alliance Party candidate in Belfast West. She received 747 first preference votes and was eliminated on the first count. She was an Alliance candidate again later that year, this time for the

2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November ...

, running in Belfast West. She came 5th, with 731 votes, roughly maintaining Alliance's percentage share of the vote from the previous general election. She was elected in May 2019 as a councilor on Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, representing the constituency of Castlereagh South. In that election, she topped the poll with 1,629 first preference votes and was elected on the first count. Later that year, she was the Alliance Party candidate for

in the

2019 UK general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party receiving a landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 48 seats and won 43.6% of the popular vote � ...

, polling 28.8% of the vote (an increase of 17.7%), coming second behind the DUP incumbent

Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leader ...

, while reducing his majority from 19,229 to 6,499.

Member of the Legislative Assembly (2022–present)

Sorcha Eastwood, alongside

David Honeyford David Honeyford is an Alliance Party politician serving as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since 2022. Political party memberships He joined the Alliance Party in 2014 after a short introduction into politic ...

, 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. She took the seat formerly held by Alliance Party turned Independent MLA

Trevor Lunn Trevor Lunn (born 29 June 1946) is an independent politician in Northern Ireland and former member of the Alliance Party. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Lagan Valley in the 2007 assembly election. Lunn took over the All ...

, who did not run for re-election.

Personal life

On 8 June 2017, Eastwood married her husband Dale Shirlow in

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with th ...

. With her wedding on the same day as the 2017 UK general election, Eastwood cast an election ballot for herself in her wedding dress.

References

Living people Alliance Party of Northern Ireland MLAs Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 Alliance Party parliamentary candidates 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland 1985 births {{NorthernIreland-politician-stub