Ian Paisley has been the Member of Parliament for North Antrim since 2010, winning by the largest majority and vote in Northern Ireland amongst his party. He is the DUP spokesman for Agriculture in the House of Commons and sits on the Northern Ireland Select Affairs Committee.
For 13 years prior to being a Member of Parliament he was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly. He was a Junior Minister in the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister and also one of the longest serving members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
Ian Paisley played a key role in negotiating Northern Ireland’s new political arrangements, in particular pushing Sinn Fein to accept the legitimacy of the British security services.
North Antrim has 22% of all of Northern Ireland’s manufacturing, it is one of the largest producers of the United Kingdom’s food and export, including poultry and milk production. It is also renowned for its tourism and beautiful scenery especially along the North Antrim coast where the Giant’s Causeway is situated and also the home of the oldest whiskey in the world since 1608 by Royal Charter – the Bushmills distillery. The iconic London double-decker bus is now manufactured in the constituency’s biggest town of Ballymena.
Ian is married to Fiona and has four children.
