Roger Hutchinson

Roger Hutchinson (born 28 June 1952) is a former politician in Northern Ireland.

After attending Larne Technical College, Hutchinson became a religious minister. He also joined the Orange Order. He moved into business in 1990.

Hutchinson was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 for the UK Unionist Party (UKUP) in East Antrim. With three of the other four UKUP members in the Assembly, he left in January 1999, disagreeing with leader Robert McCartney's policy of resigning from the Assembly should Sinn Féin become part of the power sharing executive. They formed the Northern Ireland Unionist Party (NIUP). [http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/parties/niup.htm]

At the end of 1999, Hutchinson was expelled from the NIUP for accepting seats on two statutory committees, against party policy. [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/norgan.htm] He then sat as an independent Unionist. In November 2000, he joined the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and he was elected to Newtownabbey Borough Council for the DUP in 2001. [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/lgnewtownabbey.htm] He officially became part of the DUP Assembly group in April 2002. [http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/parties/dup.htm] However, he resigned from the DUP before the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2003, in which he stood in East Antrim as an independent, failing to be elected.

Hutchinson did not restand for his council seat in 2005. In January 2007 at Belfast Crown Court, he denied sexually assaulting a female council employee. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6264817.stm]

References

* [http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/biogs/rhutchinson.htm The Northern Ireland Assembly]