UK Unionist Party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- See Ulster Progressive Unionist Association, for the political group founded in 1938
| UK Unionist Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Robert McCartney MLA |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Bangor |
| Political Ideology | Unionist |
| Political Position | Right-wing |
| International Affiliation | none |
| European Affiliation | none |
| European Parliament Group | none |
| Colours | Red & Blue |
| Website | |
| See also | Politics of the UK |
The UK Unionist Party (UKUP) is a small political party operating in Northern Ireland. It was nominally formed by Robert McCartney, formerly of the Ulster Unionist Party, to contest a by-election the North Down by-election, 1995 and then further constituted to contest the 1996 elections for the Northern Ireland Forum. McCartney had previously contested the 1987 general election as an independent using the label Real Unionist.
Ideologically, the UK Unionist Party is an integrationist party which, unlike most Northern Irish unionist parties, believes that Northern Ireland should be governed from London with no regional home rule government and parliament. The UKUP is outspoken in its opposition to the Republic of Ireland possessing any participative role in the governance of Northern Ireland. It is also highly critical of the British Labour government of Tony Blair for allowing Sinn Féin to participate in Northern Irish government prior to the IRA fully disarming. The party also opposed the re-organising of policing in Northern Ireland, which saw the controversial Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) evolving into the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
The party secured a particular coup in 1996 when it was joined by Conor Cruise O'Brien, a former minister in the Republic of Ireland. O'Brien's hostility to militant republicanism was well known, and the adherence of such a prominent supporter from the south helped reinforce the UKUP's claims to be a non-sectarian Unionist party.
McCartney and O'Brien, along one with Cedric Wilson, won seats on the 1996 Forum. The UKUP (and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)) refused to accept US Senator George Mitchell as chairman of the multi-party talks and tried to obstruct him in the undertaking of his tasks. In July 1996, the UKUP withdrew from the multi-party talks in protest at the way in which the stand off at the Orange Order parade at Drumcree was handled. When Sinn Féin entered the talks in September 1997, the UKUP and the DUP left them in protest.
At the 1997 General Election, McCartney was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for North Down. The party opposed the April 1998 Belfast Agreement and campaigned against the establishment of a Northern Ireland Assembly, in which they were unsuccessful. It did contest the election for the assembly, however, and won five seats.
In 1998, the party underwent a lot of internal turmoil. O'Brien published an article in which he called for unionists to consider and embrace the idea of a United Ireland - something that was anathema to most in the UKUP. He subsequently resigned altogether from the party. Then in December the party split over the issue of Sinn Féin taking up its seats in the power sharing executive without prior Provisional Irish Republican Army decommissioning of weapons. McCartney proposed that if this should happen, the five UKUP members should resign their seats in protest, but this was opposed by the other assembly members. At a party meeting at which the other four were absent, McCartney censured his Assembly colleagues over this split. The two sides both argued that they had the support of the grassroots members of the party. On January 5, 1999, all four left the UKUP to form the Northern Ireland Unionist Party, leaving McCartney as the sole UKUP representative in the assembly.
At the 2001 General Election, McCartney lost his seat in the House of Commons to the Ulster Unionist Party. In the Northern Ireland Assembly Election, 2003, he was only narrowly re-elected to the Assembly. The party, like most other small parties, suffered a substantial decline in the election, holding only one seat. The rival Northern Ireland Unionist Party created by breakaway Members of the Legislative Assembly, lost all of its seats.
| Political parties in the United Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| Represented in the House of Commons (646) : |
Labour (354) | Conservatives (198) | Liberal Democrats (63) | DUP (9) | SNP (6) | Sinn Féin (5#) | Plaid Cymru (3) | SDLP (3) | Ind KHHC (1) | Independent (1) | Independent Labour (1) | Respect (1) | UUP (1) |
| Represented in the House of Lords (741) : |
Labour (213) | Conservatives (210) | Cross-bencher (196) | Liberal Democrats (79) | Greens (E&W) (1) | Bishops (26) | Non affiliated (13) | Conservative Independent (1) | Independent Labour (1) | Independent (1) |
| Represented in the Scottish Parliament (129): |
Labour (50) | SNP (27) | Conservative and Unionists (17) | Liberal Democrats (17) | Scottish Greens (7) | SSP (4) | Solidarity (2) | SSCUP (1) | Independent (5) |
| Represented in the National Assembly for Wales (60): |
Labour (29) | Plaid Cymru (12) | Conservatives (11) | Liberal Democrats (6) | Forward Wales (1) | Independent (1) |
| Represented in the Northern Ireland Assembly (108) [Suspended] |
DUP (32) | UUP (24) | Sinn Féin (24) | SDLP (18) | Alliance (6) | PUP (1) | UKUP (1) | Independent (2) |
| Represented in the London Assembly (25): |
Conservatives (9) | Labour (7) | Liberal Democrats (5) | Greens (E&W) (2) | One London (2) |
| Represented in the European Parliament (72 out of 732): |
Conservatives (ED, 26) | Labour (PES, 19) | Liberal Democrats (ELDR, 12) | UKIP (ID, 10) | Greens (E&W) (EGP, 2) | SNP (EFA, 2) | DUP (ED, 1) | Plaid Cymru (EFA, 1) | Sinn Féin (EUL, 1†) | UUP (ED, 1) | Independent (NA, 2) |
| Notes | #Although Sinn Féin have five elected members and have offices at Westminster, are abstentionist and therefore do not take their seats † Sinn Féin has a second MEP from the Republic of Ireland |
| Minor parties: | |
