Alastair Ross (born 4 March 1981) is a British electoral officer and former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 2007 to 2017.
Background
Ross studied at Friends' School in Lisburn and at the University of Dundee before returning to study Irish Politics at Queen's University Belfast. While there, he became a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) activist. In 2005, he began working for Sammy Wilson as a parliamentary researcher, following a spell in DUP headquarters as a press officer in the lead-up and during the 2005 general election. For the 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he was the campaign manager for the party's three candidates in East Antrim, all of whom were elected.[citation needed]
Alastair Ross served in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2007 until its collapse in 2017. He was re-elected in 2011 and 2016. Ross was a junior minister in the Executive Office of the Northern Ireland Assembly. He previously served on the Northern Ireland Policing Board, as well as being Chairman of the Assembly Committees for Justice, Standards and Privileges, as well as the ad hoc Ctte for the Mental Capacity Bill. He also served on the Environment, Education, Justice, Regional Development, Employment and Learning, and the ad hoc Committee on Sexual Offences Committees.[citation needed]
He was a member of the management committee of Lisnagarvey Hockey Club.[citation needed] His predecessor George Dawson, was one of the three DUP MLAs in East Antrim, and died shortly after the election. Ross was nominated by a closed list submitted by Dawson as his replacement.[citation needed]
Ross was viewed as being on the more pragmatic and moderate wing of the DUP and was a regular media performer for the Party.
In 2017, he announced he wouldn’t be seeking re-election to the 2017 Assembly elections and will be quitting politics completely.[1]
Following his retirement from politics, Ross was appointed by the UK Parliament as one of ten UK Electoral Commissioners.
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