Newton was first elected to
Belfast City Council in
1985. Newton is chairman of the
Waterfront Hall board. He was an unsuccessful candidate in
East Belfast in the 1996
Northern Ireland Forum election. He was elected as a DUP member of the
Northern Ireland Assembly for East Belfast in 2003. After the
1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he was the deputy chair of the Development Committee. He takes particular interest in housing matters, the elderly, health services and employment opportunities. Newton is the DUP party spokesperson for Enterprise, Trade and Investment. On 12 May 2016 he was elected
Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. In 2022, Newton was deselected as a DUP candidate and as a result did not contest the
2022 Assembly election.
Executive First Minister and DUP leader
Peter Robinson announced on 22 June 2009 that Robin Newton would replace
Jeffrey Donaldson as junior minister in the
Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister at the beginning of the new assembly term in September 2009. This reshuffle took place due to Robinson's plans to phase out "double jobbing" amongst elected representatives. Newton was sworn in as junior minister by the speaker,
William Hay, on 1 July 2009, and served until 16 May 2011. From 2011 until 2012, he was a Political Member of the
Northern Ireland Policing Board. ==References==