Sammy Wilson

MP for East Antrim

Sammy Wilson is the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP for East Antrim, having first been elected to parliament at the 2005 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Wilson received 11,462 votes, representing 28.9% of the vote share. The Alliance Party candidate, Danny Donnelly, received 10,156 votes (25.6%), while the Ulster Unionist Party candidate received 9,476 votes (23.9%). Wilson was duly re-elected with a majority of 1,306 votes.

The East Antrim constituency is located in the north east of Northern Ireland, covering a coastal stretch of County Antrim including the towns of Larne and Carrickfergus, as well as parts of Newtownabbey.

It is a strongly Unionist area. Wilson gained the seat for the DUP from the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in 2005 and has held it since. In recent elections, particularly 2019 and 2024, the Alliance Party has significantly increased its vote share, becoming the main challenger.

Political Career

Wilson is the chief whip of the DUP in the House of Commons. He initially assumed this post in December 2019 but stepped down in February 2024.

Wilson later returned to the role, reportedly without any announcement from the party. The first official reference to Wilson having returned to the post came in an otherwise unrelated DUP press release in October 2024.

Wilson is also a member of the House of Commons environmental audit (since February 2025) – the commons select committee that acts as parliament’s primary cross-departmental watchdog on environmental issues. The EAC has a wide-ranging remit to examine how the policies and programmes of all government departments and public bodies impact environmental protection and sustainable development.

Wilson is known for his outspoken style and is generally considered to operate on the hardline of the DUP.

In April 2025, he called for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to recognise that net zero is “not only bad, but it’s mad”.

Wilson was endorsed by the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, at the 2024 general election. This is despite the nominal electoral pact between Reform and the DUP’s unionist rival, the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV).

At the time, Farage said: “New leadership brings change. I wish the TUV well, but I’m gonna stand up to support Sammy Wilson and Ian Paisley as people I fought with all through the Brexit years.”

Wilson has held a series of DUP spokesperson posts. He was Wilson was DUP spokesperson for Brexit (2017-2024), the Treasury (2009-2024), work and pensions (2015-2024), education (2015-2017 and 2003-2012), communities and local government (2005-2009), and innovation, universities and skills (2007-2008).

Wilson expressed criticism of the deal to re-establish power-sharing in Northern Ireland in January/February 2024. He labelled the government “spineless” in the wake of the announcement of the deal, entitled Safeguarding the Union. “This is a result of this spineless, weak-kneed Brexit-betraying government, refusing to take on the EU and its interference in Northern Ireland”, he told the House of Commons.

Jeffery Donaldson, the then leader of the DUP, later urged Wilson to “read all the document.”

Wilson’s opposition to the deal was linked to his decision to step down as DUP chief whip in the House of Commons. Explaining his decision to resign, Wilson said he could not force members to back policies he didn’t agree with.

He told UTV’s View From Stormont programme: “The chief whip’s responsibility is to ensure that people stay in line, that they vote in certain ways and that you maintain party discipline.

“I have reservations about some of the things that the party has agreed with the government and I felt it was inappropriate for me to be in a position where I was asking people to make sure they do toe the party line, while on occasion I may be saying something different from what the party is saying.”

Wilson was tipped to potentially replace Edwin Poots as DUP leader in June 2021. Poots resigned after just 20 days in the job after he was forced out by a revolt of MPs and elected members of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs). Ahead of a meeting of the party’s officers, which decided Poots’ fate, Wilson said that any leader who does not have the support of party officers will “find it very difficult” to stay in their position.

He added: “You cannot lead people who are not following you. If you have no followers, you can’t be a leader, can you?”

Wilson was among a group of DUP MPs who expressed support for Donald Trump during the 2020 US presidential election campaign. He held a flag bearing the slogan: “Trump 2020 Keep America Great.”

Wilson was a member of the House of Commons European scrutiny committee (2024), committee on the future relationship with the European Union (2016-2019), transport committee (2008-2009), and the Northern Ireland affairs committee (2005-2008)

Wilson is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for loan charge and taxpayer fairness and pandemic response and recovery.

Wilson delivered his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 18 May 2005.

In it, he said: “I am proud to represent East Antrim, a constituency that stretches for 60 miles from Newtonabbey on the edge of north Belfast right to the middle of the glens of Antrim and Carnlough. It has within its boundaries the historic town of Carrickfergus, with its magnificently restored castle, a modern marina that sits beside the castle and the old town centre contained within the original town walls.”

He added: “I welcome the commitment to a referendum on the EU constitution. Those who fought to free the House from the tyranny of the monarch in the past would be bewildered by the enthusiasm that some Members have displayed in their desire to hand over a wide range of powers from this House to the tyranny of a commission in Europe or European bureaucrats.”

Wilson previously contested the Westminster constituencies of East Antrim and Strangford at the 2001 and 1992 general elections respectively.

Before his election to the Westminster parliament, Wilson had a long career in Northern Ireland politics. He served in the Northern Ireland executive as minister of finance and personnel from July 2009 to July 2013, and prior to that as minister of the environment from June 2008 to June 2009. He was a member of the Northern Ireland assembly (MLA) from 1998 to 2015, initially representing Belfast East (1998 – 2003) and then East Antrim (2003 – 2015).

Wilson’s comments on climate change sparked some concern upon his appointment as environment minister in the Northern Ireland executive.

Wilso said at the time (2008): “I am not convinced and I don’t think that there is any firm evidence to show that all of that climate change is due to CO2 emissions.”

He added: “As minister for the environment I’ve got a duty to ensure that there’s a good balance set between the need to develop our economy, to provide homes, factories, roads etc and at the same time to protect the environment.

“I think we have to make sure we do not allow the agenda for NI to be dominated by the people who can sometimes be described as green fanatics.”

Wilson also had extensive experience in local government, serving as a member of Belfast city council from 1981 to 2010. He served two terms as lord mayor of Belfast from 1986 to 1987 and 2000 to 2001.

Political Views

Factional groups and motions

Mass deportation: In May 2025, Wilson signed an early day motion (EDM) concerning the mass deportation of illegal migrants. The motion, tabled by the independent MP Rupert Lowe, expressed “grave concern at the continued presence of over one million illegal migrants in the United Kingdom”.

The EDM urged the government to “implement a comprehensive national strategy to identify, detain, and deport all individuals found to be residing in the United Kingdom illegally, and to ensure that such policies are backed by the necessary legislative, diplomatic, logistical and financial resources to restore confidence in the rule of law and the security of our borders.”

Lucy Connolly EDM: In May 2025, Wilson joined a small, cross-party group of MPs in signing a parliamentary motion expressing concern over the imprisonment of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for inciting racial hatred in a social media post following the knife attacks in Southport. Connolly posted online calling for “mass deportation now”, adding “set fire to all the… hotels [housing asylum seekers]… for all I care”.

The EDM, tabled by Lowe, stated that Connolly was a young mother convicted of a non-violent offence during a period of “unprecedented overcrowding” in the prison system.

Net Zero Scrutiny Group: In the 2019-2024 parliament, Wilson was associated with the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG), a faction within the Conservative Party that questioned the cost and feasibility of the UK’s climate targets. The group, which came to prominence in 2022, sought to link the then-Conservative government’s commitment to net zero with the cost-of-living crisis. In a 2022 open letter published in the Daily Telegraph, the group urged the government to scrap green levies and drill for more fossil fuels in the North Sea to lower energy bills. The COP26 climate conference in 2021 was said to have been a catalyst for the group’s formation.

European Research Group: Wilson has also been associated with the European Research Group (ERG). During the Conservative Party’s last stint in government, the ERG emerged as a highly influential Tory faction composed of staunchly eurosceptic MPs. Founded in 1993, the group played a pivotal role in shaping the UK’s exit from the European Union, consistently advocating for a “hard” Brexit.

Its members were generally and often stridently critical of the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Theresa May. Chaired variously by Mark Francois, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Steve Baker and Suella Braverman, the group proved instrumental in May’s downfall as prime minister.

Conservative Way Forward: Wilson has been associated with the Conservative Way Forward (CWF) grouping of Thatcherite MPs. CWF was founded in 1991 by supporters of Margaret Thatcher, aiming to “defend and build upon [her] achievements… and to adapt the principles of her era in government to modern concerns and challenges”. In July 2022, the group was relaunched by Tory MP Steve Baker.

Winter fuel payment EDM: In September 2024, Wilson signed an early day motion (EDM) expressing concern over the government’s proposed changes to the winter fuel payment. The motion called on the government to “postpone the ending of winter fuel payments and establish a comprehensive strategy to tackle fuel poverty, health inequality and low incomes among older people.”

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Wilson supported Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore agreed with a majority of his constituents, 55.2% of whom also voted to Leave.

Leave Means Leave: Wilson was a supporter of Leave Means Leave, a cross-party eurosceptic pressure group established in the aftermath of the 2016 EU referendum. The group, which described itself as “the campaign for a clean Brexit”, set out its opposition to any withdrawal agreement that it believed would keep the UK tied to EU rules and institutions – a position often referred to as a “hard Brexit”.

Article 50: In February 2017, Wilson 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

Wilson 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): Wilson 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.

Same-sex marriage (2013): In February 2013, Wilson voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at its second reading. The landmark piece of legislation, which received its second reading by 400 votes to 175, legalised marriage for same-sex couples in England and Wales.

Foreign policy and security

Syria airstrikes (2015): Wilson 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.

Syria airstrikes (2013): Wilson voted against the government’s motion on the principle of military intervention in Syria in August 2013. The government motion was defeated by 285 votes to 272, a move which effectively ruled out UK participation in any US-led military strikes.

Civil liberties

Covid passes vote (2021): Wilson was one of 126 MPs to vote against Covid passes in England in December 2021.

Before Politics

Born Samuel Wilson in Belfast on 4 April 1953, he was educated at Methodist College Belfast.

He studied economics and politics at Queen’s University Belfast and Stranmillis University College.

Before entering full-time politics, Wilson worked as an economics teacher at Grosvenor Grammar School in Belfast. He also served as assistant chief examiner for A-Level economics for the CCEA exam board in Northern Ireland.

Personal Life

Wilson is reportedly divorced.

In a 2001 interview with Hot Press, Wilson is recorded as saying: “I’m divorced. I got married and it didn’t work out. Now, I would not want to live in a country where my ex-wife and I were denied the right to another chance.

“I didn’t walk out of the marriage lightly, in fact I didn’t walk out at all – my wife kicked me out! She didn’t like the kind of lifestyle I led, particularly in terms of politics.

“But who would want to live anywhere where forever she was condemned and I was condemned to live inside a marriage that had died. This is a central issue to me. And I don’t think any politician, or any religious leader has the right to say ‘you’ve got to stick with that, son.”