Andy Allen
MBE MLA
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Belfast East
Assumed office
15 September 2015
Preceded byMichael Copeland
Ulster Unionist Party spokesperson for Communities
Assumed office
24 May 2021
LeaderDoug Beattie
Personal details
Born (1988-11-02) 2 November 1988
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political partyUlster Unionist Party
SpouseNatalie Allen
Children3
ResidenceBelfast
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionSoldier
WebsiteOfficial website
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch/serviceBritish Army
Years of service2006–2012
RankRanger
UnitRoyal Irish Regiment
Battles/warsWar in Afghanistan

Andrew Allen MBE MLA (born 2 November 1988) is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician in Northern Ireland and a former soldier in the British Army. He served in the War in Afghanistan in 2008. He is one of the more liberal members of the party, consistently voting in favour of same-sex marriage and abortion.

Allen is the UUP spokesperson for Communities, and has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East since 2015.[1]

Biography

Andy Allen MLA - Albertbridge Road constituency office

Since September 2015, Allen has sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East. He was co-opted to replace Michael Copeland, who had resigned his seat due to health reasons.[2] 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 in Helmand using an improvised explosive device.[3]

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.[4]

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 representatives and called for non-teaching school staff to receive fair pay and employment terms.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "UUP, Our People : Andy Allen".
  2. ↑ Andy Allen is co-opted as Ulster Unionist MLA for East Belfast, BBC News, 15 September 2015
  3. ↑ Afghanistan veteran Andy Allen co-opted into the Ulster Unionist Party's seat in East Belfast, BelfastLive.co.uk, accessed 16 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "Double amputee MLA Andy Allen 'humbled and proud' to win national award for helping other veterans". Belfast Telegraph. 24 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "Non-teaching staff deserve fair pay and employment terms - Allen". UUP Live. Retrieved 20 November 2023.


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