In this session of the Assembly, she occasionally voted against the party line, supporting a Democratic Unionist Party motion for Sinn Féin MLAs to be excluded from the Executive. In November 2001, she was suspended from the UUP, at the same time that Peter Weir was expelled from the party, after the two voted against party leader David Trimble's re-appointment as First Minister.
In this Assembly session, she occasionally defied her party’s position by supporting a Democratic Unionist Party motion to exclude Sinn Féin MLAs. In November 2001, both she and Peter Weir were suspended from the UUP for opposing their leader David Trimble's reappointment as First Minister.