Nelson McCausland

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Nelson McCausland MLA

MLA
Incumbent
Assumed office 2003
Constituency	North Belfast

Born	N/A Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political party	Democratic Unionist Party
Website	DUP website

Nelson McCausland MLA is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland

He was educated at Belfast Royal Academy, Worcester College, Oxford and Queen's University, Belfast. He is a former teacher and a member of the Belfast Education and Library Board.

McCausland made his political debut in the 1982 Assembly elections, standing in North Belfast for the United Ulster Unionist Party (UUUP) however he was eliminated early on in the count. He appears to have quit the UUUP before the party was formally disbanded in May 1984 as he ran as an Independent Unionist in a by-election to Belfast area H in February 1984 ^[1] but polled only 9% of the vote. He stood again the following year for the Oldpark area in the local government elections ^[2] but managed only 5% of the vote. He finally succeeded in gaining election for the Castle area in 1989, taking the seat of Alfie Redpath, the by-election victor of five years before.

He was re-elected in 1993 as an Independent Unionist but announced the week after the election that he would join the Ulster Unionist Party and became the High Sheriff of Belfast in 1997. He was a candidate for the UUP in the 1996 forum elections, but was placed third on the UUP list, effectively giving him no chance of election. Disenchanted with the UUP under David Trimble he defected to the Democratic Unionist Party in 2001 and was re-elected as a local councillor for the Oldpark area in 2001 and 2005.

He has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2003.

He has represented the Council on the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Community Relations Council. [1]

He was Director of The Ulster-Scots Heritage Council from 1997 until his election to the Assembly in 2003, when he was succeeded by his party and Council colleague William Humphrey. McCausland is the DUP Party Spokesperson on Culture, Arts and Leisure.

Outside of politics he is also a member of Cross of Saint Patrick LOL 688. He served as the Northern Ireland Secretary of the Lord's Day Observance Society from 1983 to 1993 and is a strong advocate of Evangelical Protestantism.