Gavin Robinson

MP for Belfast East

Gavin Robinson is the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP for Belfast East, having first been elected to parliament at the 2015 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Robinson won 19,894 votes, representing 46.6% of the vote. The Alliance Party candidate, Naomi Long, received 17,218 votes (40.3%), while the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) candidate, John Ross, secured 1,918 votes (4.5%). Robinson was duly elected with a majority of 2,676 votes.

The Belfast East constituency covers eastern parts of the city, including the shipyards. It is a strongly unionist seat, but was represented by the Alliance Party between 2010 and 2015.

Political Career

Gavin Robinson is currently the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (since May 2024). He was originally appointed interim leader in March 2024 when then-leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson resigned after being charged with rape and historic sex offences.

In a statement at the time, the DUP said: “The party chairman has received a letter from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP confirming that he has been charged with allegations of an historical nature and indicating that he is stepping down as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party with immediate effect.

“In accordance with the party rules, the party officers have suspended Mr Donaldson from membership, pending the outcome of a judicial process.

“The party officers have this morning unanimously appointed Mr Gavin Robinson MP as the interim party leader.”

Robinson was “unanimously” ratified as the DUP’s leader after a meeting of the party executive on 29 May 2024. This came one week after Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, called a general election in a surprise statement outside 10 Downing Street.

In his first speech as DUP leader, Robinson stated: “It is with honour, humility and commitment that I look forward to leading our party into the future.

He further argued that the post-Brexit protocol was “imposed over the heads” of the people of Northern Ireland and “without support” from any elected unionist representative. “It wrecked the settled political balance within Northern Ireland and led directly to a loss of unionist confidence”, he added.

Robinson declared: “Our clear message going forward is that we are campaigning to send a strong message to a new government, whether Labour or Conservative, that building on the progress to date, we will continue to fight to fully restore Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom, including removing the application of EU law in our country and the internal Irish Sea border it creates.”

Under Robinson’s leadership, the DUP won five of Northern Ireland’s 18 parliamentary constituencies and 22.1% of the vote. The result made the DUP the largest Northern Ireland party at Westminster. Sinn Féin’s abstentionist policy means its MPs do not attend parliament.

In the foreword to the DUP’s 2024 general election manifesto, Robinson argued that the DUP has the “strength and depth to be able to make the pro-Union case and to unashamedly make the case for Northern Ireland in parliament.”

Robinson added: “For Northern Ireland to truly flourish, it needs the United Kingdom to succeed and likewise for the UK to truly flourish it needs all its constituent parts and regions to succeed.”

Robinson served as deputy leader of the DUP from June 2023 to May 2024. Previously, he was the DUP spokesperson at Westminster for defence (2017-2024), for home affairs (2015-2024), for justice (2015-2017), and for human rights (2015-2017).

Robinson is a member of the House of Commons Northern Ireland affairs select committee. The Northern Ireland affairs committee is a select committee of the House of Commons responsible for scrutinising the policy, administration, and spending of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and its associated public bodies.

Robinson was a member of the House of Commons defence committee (2016-2024), the European scrutiny committee (2022-2024), and the Northern Ireland affairs committee (2015-2016).

Robinson is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for aviation, travel and aerospace, crown dependencies and British overseas territories and Isle of Man (Manx).

Robinson delivered his maiden speech on 1 June 2015 during a debate on Britain’s place in the world.

In it, he said: “Belfast East has been for generations, and continues to be, the cultural, political and economic heartbeat of Northern Ireland.”

He added: “All those who value the Union – who recognise the benefits of the Union and are prepared to extol its virtues – need to rekindle the flames of passion and desire for this United Kingdom.

“Over the course of this parliament, I pledge myself to advance that cause and to extol the virtues and benefits of the Union across the British Isles”.

Before entering parliament, Robinson served as lord mayor of Belfast from 2012 to 2013. He was a councillor on Belfast City Council from 2010 until 2015, representing Pottinger and later Titanic.

Robinson also worked as a special adviser to Peter Robinson during his tenure as first minister of Northern Ireland.

Political views

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Robinson supported Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore agreed with a majority of constituents, 51.4% of whom voted to Leave.

Article 50: In February 2017, Robinson voted in favour of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The legislation empowered the prime minister to notify the Council of the European Union of the UK’s intention to withdraw, formally triggering the process set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. MPs supported the bill by 498 votes to 114 at second reading.

Assisted dying

Robinson voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Robinson voted against a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Robinson is still considered a relative liberal in the ranks of the DUP.

Foreign policy and security

Trident renewal (2016): Robinson voted in favour of a government motion calling for the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent system in July 2016. The motion, which was passed by 472 votes to 117, committed the UK to constructing a new fleet of submarines to carry the nation’s nuclear weapons.

Syria airstrikes (2015): Robinson voted in favour of a government motion to extend UK airstrikes against Isis from Iraq into Syria in December 2015. The motion, which was passed by 397 votes to 223 after a ten-hour debate in the House of Commons, authorised the RAF to conduct strikes against Isis targets in Syria.

Before Politics

Gavin James Robinson was born in Belfast on 22 November 1984. He is a lifelong resident of East Belfast.

He attended Grosvenor Grammar School. He studied law and government at Ulster University and gained a master’s degree in Irish politics from Queen’s University Belfast. He subsequently qualified and briefly practised as a barrister.