The Ulster Unionist Party is working on a new policy to boost the role of women in senior positions – the first woman to hold the deputy leadership has said.

Diana Armstrong said it is a “tremendous honour” to take on the role, but she wants other women within the party to “step forward and be part of the next chapter”.

The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA was speaking to the media for the first time in her new role, after running with Jon Burrows on a joint ticket for the top party positions.

Mrs Armstrong was a long serving UUP councillor in Fermanagh, before being co-opted into the Assembly in 2024 to replace Tom Elliott, who was elevated to the House of Lords.

placeholder image — Newly ratified Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) deputy leader Diana Armstrong after an EGM at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture date: Saturday January 31, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Mark Marlow/PA Wire

Addressing journalists at the Stormont Hotel on Saturday, the UUP deputy leader focused on the role of women in the party and on the economy.

“I do not underestimate the significance of today and being appointed deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. It is a tremendous honour, and one which I will carry out to the best of my ability.

“I'm doing this for women who came before women who came before me, who played their part in unionism – but there are many women without a seat in Stormont and without a seat in local government... I want those women to step forward and be part of this next chapter”, she said.

On the economy, the UUP deputy leader said that we hear too much about “the negatives” – but “there is a lot of confidence out there, and business leaders are looking to us to promote that confidence”. She said the benefits need to be brought to “hard working young people with the best education, good well paid, high skilled jobs, affordable housing and a confident future”.

Before entering politics, Diana Armstrong worked at in the office of the vice president of the European Commission, before a career in advertising. She then returned to her native Fermanagh, where she set up her own bridal business, and later represented the UUP on Fermanagh and Omagh district council.

She has been steeped in politics since childhood. Her father Harry West led the Ulster Unionist in the late 1970s. He was a hardliner who opposed the Sunningdale powersharing agreement.