Sandra Overend MLA

UUP MLA Sandra Overend was elected to the Assembly for Mid Ulster in 2011 and previously managed her father Billy Armstrong’s constituency office.  She contested the 2010 general election for the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists.  Sandra is the UUP’s Economy Spokeswoman and Deputy Whip, and sits on the Business Committee, Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee and Standards and Privileges Committee.

How did you become interested in politics?

I’ve always had an active interest in politics and the work of the Ulster Unionist Party in particular.  However, as my husband Nigel and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary to the news of the Belfast Agreement, this instigated a switch in career from accountancy to office management for my father, who was elected shortly afterwards to the Northern Ireland Assembly; a job I continued for his full thirteen years as MLA.

My political involvement did not stop there though.  As an Ulster Unionist Party member I was very actively involved, holding various positions within branch, division and association.  In 2008 I was elected as a party officer, holding the responsibility for women’s development.

At that stage, I had no vision of becoming an elected representative myself, as I was always happy working behind the scenes.  But having been the one who worked to encourage more women within the Ulster Unionist Party to go forward for election, I could hardly ignore my own advice and so put myself forward for the selection process for the Westminster election in 2010, which led me on to the Assembly elections the following year.

I want to try to change the face of politics here in Northern Ireland.  We need a government with common sense, taking the right decisions for the betterment of the people of Northern Ireland, not simply for party political gain.  I believe that we must all work harder to build a better, more efficient government, creating a shared society, rather than one which is shared out.

What stands out about Mid Ulster?

Having been born and raised in East Tyrone and lived for 15 years in South Londonderry, I feel that I know the whole constituency well.  It is a predominantly rural constituency, with agriculture being a major factor.  However, Mid Ulster is a well-known hub of manufacturing and engineering businesses.

We have a great number of small and medium enterprises and I am rightly proud of their achievements.  I have a great loyalty to our home-grown businesses and feel that it is extremely important to support them and ensure that we create the ideal environment in which they can grow and prosper.

What is your ambition for Northern Ireland’s economy?

Firstly, we need to lessen our dependence on the block grant.  Secondly, it is imperative that we grow the private sector given our well-documented over-reliance on the public sector.  Thirdly, we need the necessary leadership to devolve corporation tax with a view to reducing its level, and fourthly, we must ensure that we up skill our workforce in the areas which are most needed, for example, in science, engineering, technology and maths.

Public procurement is an important element of the economy which equates to up to £3 billion of spending a year. I believe that we are falling behind the rest of the United Kingdom in this area, given the Welsh Opening Doors strategy and Scotland’s intention to legislate through a Sustainable Procurement Bill. I will be working to ensure that public procurement contracts are as accessible as possible to our small and medium sized enterprises and also that the Programme for Government target in relation to social clauses is met.

I also believe we have to effectively tackle the growing problem of youth unemployment and that is why I called for the £26.5 million Barnett consequential arising from the Coalition Government’s £1 billion Youth Contract initiative to be allocated to create opportunities for young people in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland economy is also uniquely placed to capitalise on the decade of centenaries as well as events such as Londonderry as the UK City of Culture, the World Police and Fire Games and the London Olympics. It is important that DETI publish an overarching tourism strategy to ensure we are making the best of our economic potential and help government departments to work together. Genealogical tourism has a big part to play within the tourism sector, and I believe in the potential for millions of Ulster Scots or Scotch-Irish people around the world to visit Northern Ireland to learn more about their heritage and family history.

What progress have you seen in promoting women within the Ulster Unionist Party?  And what more needs to be done?

In 2008, I was elected as a party officer with specific responsibility for women’s development. Through this role I created the Dame Dehra Parker Programme which aimed to give female members increased knowledge, develop their skills and encourage them to go through the party’s rigorous candidates assessment procedures and apply to go onto the central candidates’ list, and from there to be selected as candidates at local government, Assembly and Westminster level.  The Ulster Unionist Party increased its female membership during my tenure as Women’s Development Officer and we also increased the number of women elected in 2011.

Of course, this work needs to continue. I have always said that women will get more involved when they see that they can actually make a difference, and I believe that this will happen as the Assembly matures.  Currently the make-up of our Assembly isn’t very diverse and this is because Stormont isn’t relevant to many local people.  We need to see more delivery and more common sense government.

How have you found using twitter and what are its main pros and cons for politicians?

Twitter is a great way to connect with a variety of different people, many of whom I’ve met and exchanged ideas.  My tweets are a mixture of business and personal; I feel it’s important that a real person shines through the important political views.

However, it is too easy to post useless information, and it’s difficult to be a consistent tweeter.  Depending on the workload and connection capability there could be days I’ll go without a tweet, but be assured I’ll be back @over2sandra soon!