Julie Middleton replaces husband Gary as Foyle MLA

Julie Middleton has replaced her husband as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member for Foyle, the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland has confirmed. Gary Middleton announced last week that he was resigning from the Northern Ireland Assembly to deal with "significant" mental health challenges. He had been an MLA at Stormont since 2015 and was briefly a junior minister in the executive having previously served as a councillor. His wife Julie has served as a councillor since 2023 in the Faughan district of Derry City and Strabane District Council. At a news conference at Stormont on Monday, Julie Middleton said she was "hugely honoured and excited" to take up the role and become the first female unionist MLA for the constituency. She said she was born and bred in the area and that she had worked in the city throughout her life. Julie Middleton said, despite being "sad about the circumstances" of her appointment, she insisted she was not "being parachuted in" but rather "stepping up" and was fully ready to serve as an MLA. "Things have been difficult, but I'm not just a wife - I'm very much my own person," she said. "Through this whole journey our family has been on, it'