Sandra Overend

Sandra Overend (born 11 May 1973) is an Ulster Unionist Party politician in Northern Ireland who was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2011.^[1]

Overend was born near Stewartstown, County Tyrone and educated at Cookstown High School and the University of Ulster. She lives near Bellaghy, County Londonderry. She is married with three children; her father-in-law is former Vanguard politician Robert Overend. She worked in accountancy before taking up employment as office manager for her father Billy Armstrong MLA in 1998. Overend is the Ulster Unionist Party Women's Development Officer.^[2]

Overend stood unsuccessfully in Mid Ulster at the 2010 general election, taking 11% of the vote and fourth place.^[3] In 2015, she stood again in Mid Ulster at the 2015 general election, taking 15.4% of the vote and second place and overtaking the DUP in Mid Ulster.

Overend has said that there must be an equitable solution found for Northern Ireland’s dairy farmers or else the industry runs the risk of being strangled by low prices. "Whilst Thursday's increase in the milk auction, 25.04ppl to 26.22ppl, is to be welcomed we must remember that exactly the same auction last year produced results of 29.53ppl. Therefore whilst milk prices may be rising from their cripplingly low 22ppl only a few months ago, they still have much further to go to simply match last year’s prices."^[4]

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