Alan Chambers 'wants to fight Assembly seat for UUP' amid deselection battle with own party, say sources close to MLA
An Ulster Unionist MLA seemingly barred from standing for his own seat in next year’s election is reported to be keen to fight to keep it for the party.
Alan Chambers has represented the North Down district for the past 10 years, but according to stories in the press this week has been dropped in favour of a UUP councillor from a neighbouring constituency.
A source close to the MLA now disputes claims that Mr Chambers didn’t put his name forward to the party for re-election, and denies that he instead plans to stand as an independent in 2027’s Assembly poll.
He was and remains keen, stated the source, to retain the seat he has held since 2016 and would prefer to fight the election on an Ulster Unionist ticket.
The source was adamant that Mr Chambers had submitted necessary paperwork to stand for the party next year, and did not indicate to either the party association in North Down or its provincewide leadership that his position had changed.
As of this afternoon, it’s understood the North Down politician remains a member of the UUP.
The deselection row comes hot on the heels of a similar dispute in May that saw former Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie quit the party. Despite being one of the UUP’s biggest names, Mr Beattie was dropped from running for his Upper Bann constituency and now sits as an independent.
Aged 78, Mr Chambers is the oldest MLA in Stormont, earning him the title ‘father of the house’.
A businessman who owns a shop in seaside Co Down village Groomsport, he’s a political veteran who spent almost 25 years on the area’s council as an independent, before joining the Ulster Unionists in 2015 and winning his Assembly seat the following year.
He has been the party’s health spokesman for five years and has chaired Stormont’s Audit Committee since 2024.
Mr Chambers is held to wield a hefty personal vote, especially among older members of the electorate – a group his district has in spades, as roughly one quarter of North Down is aged 65 or above.
He also heads what could be considered a small political dynasty in the area; his son, David, is a UUP councillor representing Bangor East and Donaghadee.
His reported replacement is Pete Wray, a councillor for the Ards Peninsula area in the neighbouring Assembly constituency of Strangford.
Mr Wray, a vocal supporter of party leader Jon Burrows, has only been in frontline politics since 2023 but has already carved himself a prominent local profile, and was last week part of the UUP’s delegation to meet new Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant.
Well-known in working-class parts of the North Down area through his community youth work with Northern Ireland Alternatives, he was elected for Ards Peninsula at the most recent council poll, first preference votes putting him in fifth place out of six available seats.
The best Assembly result Mr Chambers achieved was in 2017, when he came in second place. His poll results in 2016 and 2022 saw him end those races at number four.
The Ulster Unionist Party was contacted about the deselection row, but declined to comment.