Gavin Robinson

A lifelong resident of East Belfast, Gavin Robinson is a former barrister. He joined Belfast City Council in 2010, replacing Sammy Wilson after he stood down and the following year became an alderman on the council. In 2012, he was elected as Lord Mayor of Belfast: he focused on reviving the city’s struggling street retailers and bridging the divide between the city council and the Northern Ireland executive. In the Commons, he joined the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, on which he sat for a year, and later joined the Ecclesiastical Committee, the Defence Committee and the Committees on Arms Export Controls. He has also held several shadow DUP spokesperson roles, including on human rights and justice; and on home affairs and defence. In the last parliament, Robinson was involved with a number of APPGs, including those on the armed forces covenant; war heritage; aerospace; air passenger duty reform; Queen’s University Belfast; armed forces; financial technology; and funerals and bereavement. A member of the Church of Ireland, he holds strong religious beliefs and, correspondingly, in 2019 he voted against the inclusion of LGBT+ relationships in sex education.