Sorcha Eastwood.

Nominated for Backbencher of the Year and now under consideration for Lagan Valley's most active voices at Westminster, Sorcha Eastwood has built a profile well beyond her party's size. Her most eye-catching recent vote came in April 2026, when she backed referring Prime Minister Starmer to the Privileges Committee over the Mandelson appointment — a cross-party rebellion that put her alongside the Conservatives, SNP and DUP against the Labour whip. She has also pushed hard on constituency issues: an Early Day Motion calling for a review of Royal Mail's ownership over persistent service failures, roundtables defending local hospitality businesses ahead of the Budget, and a sustained presence in debates on cost-of-living, health, and social care.

Her voting record reflects Alliance's broadly centre-left positioning — 100% party alignment, no rebel votes within her own group — but her overall participation rate is strikingly low at 11% (62 of 570 votes), far below the Commons average. Where she does vote, the pattern is consistent: backing welfare expansion, opposing benefit cuts, supporting climate action, and resisting Lords amendments that the government opposed, though she broke from government on the statutory mobile phone ban in schools, voting for a legal requirement rather than guidance.

Eastwood sits on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, and her speech topics — economy, social care, health, cost-of-living — track the concerns raised at her local roundtables rather than narrow party-political lines. Her 2024 win in Lagan Valley was widely described as a personal vote built on visibility and local trust. The low participation figure warrants scrutiny, though Northern Ireland MPs sometimes abstain on England-only matters as a matter of principle rather than disengagement. Speech data covers 110 contributions across 75 debates.