Claire Hanna

In one of the most exciting Northern Irish races in the 2019 general election, Claire Hanna took Belfast South from the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly on an 18.5 per cent swing and now comfortably holds the seat with a 15,401 majority. This was a win for the SDLP, whose former-Leader Alasdair McDonnell had held the seat from 2005 to 2017. Living in her constituency since the age of three, Hanna’s background is in law and international development, working in countries like Bangladesh, Haiti and Zambia. Her political career began in 2011 when she was elected as a councillor for Balmoral ward on Belfast City Council. In 2015 she was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast South, where she served on the Regional Development Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Environment Committee, as well as setting up the All-Party Groups on International Development and the Arts. Hanna was behind making Belfast City Council the first Living Wage authority on the island, and she also chaired the East Belfast Policing Board and Community Partnership. Hanna caused controversy by resigning the party whip in 2019, protesting an electoral alliance with Fianna Fáil.