{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=April 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Sandra Overend | honorific_suffix = | image = Sandra Overend, MLA 2015.jpg | image_size = | caption = Overend in 2015 | office = | term_start = | term_end = | predecessor = | successor = | constituency_AM2 = Mid-Ulster | assembly2 = Northern Ireland | majority2 = | term_start2 = 5 May 2011 | term_end2 = 3 March 2017 | predecessor2 = Billy Armstrong | successor2 = ''Seat abolished'' | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1973|5|11|df=yes}} | birth_place = Stewartstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland | death_date = | death_place = | party = Ulster Unionist Party | other_party = | spouse = Nigel | relations = | children = 3 | alma_mater = University of Ulster }}
'''Sandra Overend''' (born 11 May 1973) is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician in Northern Ireland. She served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Mid-Ulster from 2011 to 2017.
==Background== 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.<ref>[http://uup.org/index.php/mid-ulster/itemlist/category/48-sandra-overend-mid-ulster.html Ulster Unionist Party website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901015858/http://uup.org/index.php/mid-ulster/itemlist/category/48-sandra-overend-mid-ulster.html |date=1 September 2011 }}, uup.org; accessed 16 May 2016.</ref>
Overend stood unsuccessfully in Mid Ulster at the 2010 UK general election, taking 11% of the vote and fourth place.<ref>"[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/710.stm Election 2010: Mid Ulster]", ''BBC News''; accessed 16 May 2016.</ref> She stood again in Mid Ulster in the 2015 general election, taking 15.4% of the vote and second place and overtaking the DUP.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Mid Ulster|work=Ark Northern Ireland Elections |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/amu.htm}}</ref>
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."<ref name="Farming life">{{cite web|title=Farminglife.com - Grocery Code Adjudicator could play role: MLA|url=http://www.farminglife.com/news/grocery-code-adjudicator-could-play-role-mla-1-4201731|work=Farming life|publisher=Farming life|accessdate=27 August 2012}}</ref>
She was defeated at the 2017 Assembly election.<ref>{{cite web|title = Sandra Overend: Losing my seat at Stormont was a huge surprise for me, but life can change its course in a way you don't expect it to|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/sandra-overend-losing-my-seat-at-stormont-was-a-big-surprise-for-me-but-life-can-change-its-course-in-a-way-you-dont-expect-it-to/35693807.html|website = Belfast Telegraph|date = 9 May 2017|access-date = 13 July 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|ni/ass}} {{s-bef | before = Billy Armstrong }} {{s-ttl | title = MLA for Mid-Ulster | years = 2011–2017 }} {{s-non | reason=Seat abolished}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overend, Sandra}} Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:People from Cookstown Category:People educated at Cookstown High School Category:Alumni of Ulster University Category:Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Category:Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly