 He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2003 being the only member from the DUP for West Tyrone until the 2007 election when he was joined by Allan Bresland who is originally from Donemana and is a member of Strabane District Council.In July 2010, he complained about a display of bunting inside an Omagh bank that celebrated a success by the Tyrone GAA team.The bank had been sponsoring the Ulster Championship.