Andrew Allen (born 2 November 1988) is an

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

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

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. 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) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

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 sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

and abortion. Allen is the UUP spokesperson for

Communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...

, and has been 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 ...

(MLA) for Belfast East since 2015.

Biography

Since September 2015, Allen has sat in the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA) for Belfast East. He was co-opted to replace Michael Copeland, who had resigned his seat due to health reasons. He has subsequently been re-elected twice, firstly in May 2016, then March 2017 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 The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

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 13 ...

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 Sellyoak 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.

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 Irish amputees British politicians with disabilities Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 {{NorthernIreland-politician-stub