Culture Wars Leaderboard

Every current MLA, ranked by how many of their Assembly activities Jev assessed as qualifying culture-war activity for each year they have served, so MLAs who joined part-way through the mandate are compared fairly. You can also rank by total, or by share of activity.

Quick date ranges: Since devolution was restored (3 February 2024) · Whole mandate (from 5 May 2022)

26 current MLAs ranked by qualifying activities per year served. Scope: 3 February 2024 to 21 October 2026; all activity types.

Rank	MLA	Per year served ▼	Qualifying activities	Uncertain	Share of assessed activity
1	Mr Jonathan Buckley DUP · Upper Bann	9.942.72 years	Mr Jonathan Buckley: 27	Mr Jonathan Buckley, uncertain: 14	4.0%of 681 analysed; 310 awaiting
2	Mr Phillip Brett DUP · North Belfast	6.632.72 years	Mr Phillip Brett: 18	Mr Phillip Brett, uncertain: 13	0.9%of 2,010 analysed; 188 awaiting
3	Mr Brian Kingston DUP · North Belfast	5.152.72 years	Mr Brian Kingston: 14	Mr Brian Kingston, uncertain: 7	2.9%of 493 analysed; 149 awaiting
4	Mr Peter Martin DUP · North Down	3.072.28 years	Mr Peter Martin: 7	Mr Peter Martin, uncertain: 5	0.5%of 1,422 analysed; 181 awaiting
=5	Mr David Brooks DUP · East Belfast	2.952.72 years	Mr David Brooks: 8	Mr David Brooks, uncertain: 8	1.6%of 521 analysed; 165 awaiting
=5	Ms Diane Forsythe DUP · South Down	2.952.72 years	Ms Diane Forsythe: 8	Ms Diane Forsythe, uncertain: 4	0.5%of 1,638 analysed; 171 awaiting
=7	Ms Joanne Bunting DUP · East Belfast junior Minister	2.582.72 years	Ms Joanne Bunting: 7	Ms Joanne Bunting, uncertain: 0	2.7%of 260 analysed; 34 awaiting
=7	Mr Paul Frew DUP · North Antrim	2.582.72 years	Mr Paul Frew: 7	Mr Paul Frew, uncertain: 8	1.0%of 727 analysed; 290 awaiting
=9	Mrs Diane Dodds DUP · Upper Bann	2.212.72 years	Mrs Diane Dodds: 6	Mrs Diane Dodds, uncertain: 8	0.5%of 1,294 analysed; 110 awaiting
=9	Mr Paul Givan DUP · Lagan Valley Minister of Education	2.212.72 years	Mr Paul Givan: 6	Mr Paul Givan, uncertain: 8	0.8%of 779 analysed; 412 awaiting
=9	Mr Gordon Lyons DUP · East Antrim Minister for Communities	2.212.72 years	Mr Gordon Lyons: 6	Mr Gordon Lyons, uncertain: 11	0.5%of 1,120 analysed; 522 awaiting
12	Mr Trevor Clarke DUP · South Antrim	1.842.72 years	Mr Trevor Clarke: 5	Mr Trevor Clarke, uncertain: 1	1.2%of 419 analysed; 95 awaiting
13	Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly DUP · Lagan Valley deputy First Minister	1.472.72 years	Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly: 4	Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly, uncertain: 1	0.7%of 595 analysed; 286 awaiting
14	Miss Michelle McIlveen DUP · Strangford	1.102.72 years	Miss Michelle McIlveen: 3	Miss Michelle McIlveen, uncertain: 1	0.1%of 2,694 analysed; 57 awaiting
=15	Mr Maurice Bradley DUP · East Londonderry	0.742.72 years	Mr Maurice Bradley: 2	Mr Maurice Bradley, uncertain: 0	0.5%of 414 analysed; 60 awaiting
=15	Ms Cheryl Brownlee DUP · East Antrim	0.742.72 years	Ms Cheryl Brownlee: 2	Ms Cheryl Brownlee, uncertain: 1	0.2%of 1,011 analysed; 63 awaiting
=15	Mr Tom Buchanan DUP · West Tyrone	0.742.72 years	Mr Tom Buchanan: 2	Mr Tom Buchanan, uncertain: 3	0.4%of 482 analysed; 37 awaiting
=15	Mr Stephen Dunne DUP · North Down	0.742.72 years	Mr Stephen Dunne: 2	Mr Stephen Dunne, uncertain: 0	0.2%of 1,161 analysed; 56 awaiting
=15	Mr Harry Harvey DUP · Strangford	0.742.72 years	Mr Harry Harvey: 2	Mr Harry Harvey, uncertain: 1	0.6%of 340 analysed; 63 awaiting
=20	Mr Keith Buchanan DUP · Mid Ulster	0.372.72 years	Mr Keith Buchanan: 1	Mr Keith Buchanan, uncertain: 1	0.4%of 279 analysed; 60 awaiting
=20	Mrs Pam Cameron DUP · South Antrim junior Minister	0.372.72 years	Mrs Pam Cameron: 1	Mrs Pam Cameron, uncertain: 1	0.5%of 187 analysed; 96 awaiting
=20	Mrs Deborah Erskine DUP · Fermanagh and South Tyrone	0.372.72 years	Mrs Deborah Erskine: 1	Mrs Deborah Erskine, uncertain: 2	0.1%of 1,398 analysed; 124 awaiting
–Not ranked	Mrs Julie Middleton DUP · Foyle	0.000.53 years	Mrs Julie Middleton: 0	Mrs Julie Middleton, uncertain: 0	0.0%of 80 analysed; 17 awaiting
–Not ranked	Mr Edwin Poots DUP · South Belfast Speaker	0.002.72 years	Mr Edwin Poots: 0	Mr Edwin Poots, uncertain: 0	0.0%* (small sample)of 2 analysed
–Not ranked	Mr Alan Robinson DUP · East Londonderry	0.002.72 years	Mr Alan Robinson: 0	Mr Alan Robinson, uncertain: 0	0.0%of 416 analysed; 53 awaiting
–Not ranked	Mr Gareth Wilson DUP · Newry and Armagh	0.000.79 years	Mr Gareth Wilson: 0	Mr Gareth Wilson, uncertain: 0	0.0%of 325 analysed; 66 awaiting

Uncertain activities are close calls or partial matches: published, but not counted. MLAs with no qualifying activity in this scope are listed without a rank (–), as are MLAs whose figure on the chosen measure is unreliable: † served less than 6 months in the period; * fewer than 30 assessed activities. Office holders are listed under their names: ministers do not table questions, which lowers their totals. Each MLA’s profile breaks their activity down by type.

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Source material: 106,978 Assembly records imported for this mandate, of which 84,463 of 97,621 analysable records (86.5%) have been assessed, including 198 Official Reports. Processing details.

How to read this table

• Qualifying activities counts each distinct Assembly activity (a question, a speech, a motion signature) that met the published thresholds. Uncertain assessments are published but not counted.
• Activities analysed is the number of that MLA’s records Jev has assessed in this scope, including those it found uncertain.
• Qualifying per year served divides the total by the time the MLA actually served as an MLA in the period, so co-opted members are not compared with full-term members on raw totals.
• Share of assessed activity is qualifying activities as a percentage of all activities with an accepted assessment (qualifying or not qualifying).
• The Assembly did not sit normally until 3 February 2024. Use the date filter to compare only the period since restoration.

Read how the leaderboard is calculated

Data last updated 21 October 2026.