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The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party) is a moderate unionist political party in Northern Ireland, which formed its government between 1921 and 1972 and was supported by most unionists throughout the Troubles. The party now has one Westminster MP, Sylvia Hermon.

The UUP has lost support among Northern Ireland's unionist and Protestant community to the more 'hardline' Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) over the last three United Kingdom general elections.

Party leaders

• Colonel Edward James Saunderson 1905–1906**
• Walter Long 1906–1910**
• Sir Edward Carson 1910–1921**
• Sir James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon 1921–1940
• John Miller Andrews 1940–1946
• Sir Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough 1946–1963
• Captain Terence O'Neill 1963–1969
• Major James Chichester-Clark 1969–1971
• Brian Faulkner 1971–1974
• Harry West 1974–1979
• James Molyneaux 1979–1995
• David Trimble 1995–2005
• Sir Reg Empey 2005–present

note: ** denotes leaders of the UUP who were also leaders of the Irish Unionist Parliamentary Party.

Foundation

The Ulster Unionist Party traces its formal existence back to the foundation of the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905. Prior to that, however, there had been a less formally organised Irish Unionist Party since the late 19th century, sometimes but not always dominated by Unionists from Ulster. Modern organised Unionism properly emerged after William Gladstone's introduction in 1886 of the first Three Home Rule Bill in response to demands by the Irish Parliamentary Party. The Irish Unionist Party was an alliance of Conservatives and Liberal Unionists, the latter having split from the Liberal Party over the issue of Irish home rule.

The party had a strong association with the Orange Order, a Protestant institution and counterpart of the smaller Roman Catholic Ancient Order of Hibernians. Though most unionist support was based in the geographic area that became Northern Ireland, there were at one time Unionist enclaves throughout southern Ireland. Unionists in Cork and Dublin were particularly influential. The initial leadership of the Unionist Party all came from outside the six counties of Ulster, with people such as Colonel Saunderson, Viscount (later the Earl of) Midleton and the Dublin-born Sir Edward Carson. However, with the partition of Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, Irish unionism in effect split. Many southern unionist politicians became reconciled with the new Irish Free State, sitting in its senate or joining its political parties. Unionism's northern wing evolved into the separate Ulster Unionist Party.

Modern southern unionism evolved into the Reform Movement in Ireland and the Irish Unionist Alliance. Both organizations are separate from the Ulster Unionist Party.

Stormont Parliament

Until almost the very end of its period of power in Northern Ireland the Unionist Party was led by a combination of landed gentry (Sir Basil Brooke , Terence O'Neill and James Chichester-Clark) and gentrified industrial magnates (Sir James Craig later Lord Craigavon, and John Miller Andrews). Only its last Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner was from a middle-class background.

In 1922, Sir Edward Carson warned the new unionist leadership of Northern Ireland against practising any discrimination towards the Roman Catholic minority in the region. However, former leader and Nobel Peace Prize co-winner (with the Social Democratic and Labour Party's then leader, John Hume) David Trimble observed, Northern Ireland under the UUP governments was a "cold house for Catholics." In the 1960s, identifying with the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King and encouraged by attempts at reform under then Unionist Party leader Terence O'Neill (later Lord O'Neill of the Maine), the Northern Civil Rights Movement campaigned for legislation that would end discrimination against Catholics. However, opposition from extreme loyalists and hardline unionist campaigners such as Ian Paisley, coupled with the heavy-handled behaviour of the police, led to a resurgence in violence by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a breakaway from the Marxist Official Irish Republican Army. Faced with what seemed to be a threat of civil war, the British government ended the Unionist Party's hold on power in Northern Ireland when it prorogued the Stormont Parliament in March 1972.

Some liberal Unionists, who had advocated the policies of Terence O'Neill left and formed the Alliance Party in 1970, while the emergence of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) drew off some working-class and more hardline support. A more militant wing of the Unionist Party turned to the Vanguard movement to steer unionism back to its "traditional" course. When this failed, they broke away and formed the separate Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party in 1973.

Up until 1974 the UUP was affiliated with the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, and Ulster Unionist MPs sat with the Conservative Party at Westminster, traditionally taking the post of Conservative parliamentary whip. To all intents and purposes the party functioned as the Northern Ireland branch of the Conservative Party. (In the same period the Scottish branch of the party also used the term "Unionist", and not "Conservative"). In 1974, in protest over the Sunningdale Agreement, the Westminster Ulster Unionist MPs withdrew from the alliance. The party remained affiliated to the National Union but withdrew in 1985 from it as well, in protest over the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Subsequently, the Conservative Party has organised separately in Northern Ireland, with little electoral success.

Structure

The UUP is still organised around the Ulster Unionist Council, which was from 1905 until 2004 the only legal representation of the UUP. Following the adoption of a new Constitution, the UUP is now an entity in it's own right, however the UUC still exists as the supreme decision making body of the Party.

Each Constituency in Northern Ireland forms the boundary of a UUP Constituency Association, which is made up of branches formed along local boundaries (often electoral wards of District Electoral Areas). There are also three 'representative bodies', the Ulster Womens Unionist Council, the Ulster Young Unionist Council and the Ulster Unionist Councillors Association. Each Constituency Association and Representative Body elects a number of delegates to the Ulster Unionist Council, which normally only meets at iuts Annual General Meeting, which hears reports and elects Party Officers, including the Party Leader each year.

Associations and Representative Bodies also elect delegates to the Party Executive Committee, which is around 100 members strong and meets between 6 and 10 tims per year.

The UUP maintained a formal connection with the Orange Order from its foundation until 2005, and with the Apprentice Boys of Derry until 1975. Only three of the party's Westminster MPs (Enoch Powell, Ken Maginnis and Sylvia Hermon) have not been members of the Orange Order. This was said to be a factor in discouraging Catholic membership of the party. While the party was considering structural reforms, including the connection with the Order, it was the Order itself that severed the connection in 2004.

Youth wing

The UUP's youth wing is the Ulster Young Unionist Council, first formed in 1949. Many of its members have stayed with the party, such as the present leader of the UUP. Others have left to start other unionist parties. Having disbanded twice, in 1974 and 2004, the Council was re-constituted by young activists in March 2004. This resulted in the young unionists (YU) becoming a representative body of the UUP and subject to its revamp of their Constitution.

Sunningdale to present

The Sunningdale Agreement, which led to the formation of a power-sharing Executive under then Ulster Unionist leader Brian Faulkner, ruptured the party. In the 1973 elections to the Executive the party found itself divided, a division that did not formally end until January 1974 with the triumph of the anti-Sunningdale faction. Faulkner was then overthrown, and he set up the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (UPNI). The Ulster Unionists were now led by Harry West from 1974 until 1979. In the February 1974 general election, the party participated in the United Ulster Unionist Coalition (UUUC) with Vanguard and the Democratic Unionists. The result was that the UUUC won 11 out of 12 parliamentary seats in Northern Ireland on a fiercely anti-Sunningdale platform, although they barely won 50% of the overall popular vote. This result was a fatal blow for the Executive, which soon collapsed. Under West's leadership the party recruited Enoch Powell, who became Ulster Unionist MP for South Down. Powell advocated a policy of integration, whereby Northern Ireland would be administered as an integral part of the United Kingdom. This policy divided both the Ulster Unionists and the wider Unionist movement, as Powell's ideas conflicted with those supporting a restoration of devolved government to the province. The party also made gains upon the breakup of the Vanguard Party and its merger back into the Ulster Unionists. The separate United Ulster Unionist Party (UUUP) emerged from the remains of Vanguard but folded in the early 1980s, as did the UPNI. In both cases the main beneficiaries of this were the Ulster Unionists, now under the leadership of James Molyneaux (1979-1995).

In October 1995, Patricia Campbell, a Catholic member of the UUP and personal secretary to Molyneaux, filed an employment discrimination case against the UUP with the Fair Employment Commission. The case was settled out of court.

PUP controversy

Controversy erupted in May 2006 when UUP leader Reg Empey allowed the Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine to join the UUP assembly group. The PUP is said to give political advice to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a terrorist organisation that carried out many murders of Catholics during the Troubles. Many in the UUP, including the last remaining MP, Sylvia Hermon, were opposed to the move , however resignations from the party were few. The link was in the form of a new group called the 'Ulster Unionist Assembly Party Group' whose membership was the 24 UUP MLAs and Mr Ervine. Sir Reg Empey justified the link by stating that under the d'Hondt rules for allocating ministers in the Assembly, the new group would take a seat in the Executive from Sinn Fein.

Following a request for a ruling from the DUP's Peter Robinson, the Speaker ruled that the UUPAG was not a political party within the meaning of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

Leadership

David Trimble led the party between 1995 and 2005. His support (which some nationalists claim to be ambiguous) for the Belfast Agreement caused a rupture within the Party into pro-agreement and anti-agreement factions. Trimble served as First Minister of Northern Ireland in the power-sharing administration created under the Belfast Agreement.

The UUP had a Roman Catholic Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) (the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly), Sir John Gorman until the 2003 election. In March 2005, the Orange Order voted to end its official links with the UUP, while still maintaining the same unofficial links as other interest groups. Mr Trimble faced down Orange Order critics who tried to suspend him for his attendance at a Catholic funeral for a young boy murdered by the Real IRA, in the infamous Omagh bombing. Trimble and Irish president Mary McAleese, in a sign of unity, walked into the church together.

2005 General Election

The party fared disastrously in the 2005 general election, losing five of its six Westminster seats — one MP had previously defected to the DUP. Only the Labour Party lost more seats in 2005. David Trimble himself lost his seat in Upper Bann and resigned as party leader soon after. The ensuing leadership election was won by Sir Reg Empey.

Policy summary

As a party reflecting the centrist ground of Unionist opinion, the broad policy outlook of the Ulster Unionist Party reflects the society in which it works and aims to develop and strengthen Northern Ireland's role as a partner within the United Kingdom. Under Sir Reg Empey's leadership, the party has stressed the need for social cohesion and a "Fair Society". It has stated it will make tackling poverty and homelessness a priority in any future Northern Ireland administration.

Constitutional affairs

• Constitutional Monarchist
• Pro-devolution with a strong attachment to British Parliamentary Traditions
• Seeks the restoration of the Stormont Assembly
• Supports in principle power-sharing with democratic nationalist parties in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

• Seeks to promote and strengthen the constitutional union between Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales within the constitutional framework of the United Kingdom
• Seeks to develop friendly relations between all the peoples of the British Isles
• Supportive of a positive, co-operative relationship between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic

North/South

• The party has been supportive of constructive co-operation between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, since the latter renounced its territorial claim upon Northern Ireland as part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
• Participated in North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC)

Britain/Ireland

• Established British Irish Council

Justice and security

• Opposed Patten Report (1999) and subsequent changes to RUC
• Against 50:50 recruitment in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
• Favours retention of full-time reserve to keep up police numbers
• Supports strong UK anti-terrorist legislation, identity cards, anti-social behaviour orders and a statutory Victims Charter for victims of crime
• Demands Assets Recovery Agency actions against loyalist and republican paramilitaries
• Demands the abolition of Parades Commission, on the grounds that it restricts Freedom of Assembly.

Social affairs

• UUP social policy places an emphasis on social cohesion, on the role of the family, and on the eradication of poverty and homelessness from Northern Ireland society.

Ethnic minorities

• Under Sir Reg Empey's leadership, the party has stressed the need to help integrate ethnic minorities into Northern Irish life.
• The UUP supported the allocation of additional resources by the police to tackle Hate Crime against ethnic minorities.
• The Party Website contains content in most of Northern Ireland's ethnic minority languages, including Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi and Urdu.

Agriculture

• The party has proposed a series of measures aimed at addressing the economic, social and environmental needs of rural communities. It has called for a Rural White Paper to bring together the various strands of government policy towards rural communities in the Province.

Culture

• Established Ulster-Scots Agency

Education

• The party promotes a series of measures to reduce the "brain drain" of educated young Northern Ireland people to the mainland UK and further afield.

Environment

• Proposes independent Environmental Protection Agency and Marine Act for coastal protection
• Supports reduced fossil fuel dependency and increased renewable energy use
• Aims to complete all Area of Special Scientific Interest designations by 2010

Health

• The party supports free personal care for the elderly and has stated it will make its implementation a priority in any future Northern Ireland administration.

Economic affairs

• Regionalist approach seeks maximum investment in Northern Ireland economy

Development

Public finance

Foreign affairs

• Supports the "War on Terrorism"
• Voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq at Westminster

Europe

• Euro-sceptic centrist
• Opposes European Constitution
• Favours retention of the Pound Sterling, opposes UK entry into the Euro

Wider world

• Atlanticist
• Expresses support for involvement of Northern Ireland citizens in UK diplomacy and United Nations
• Supports North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance with the United Kingdom's NATO allies
• General interest in international development issues

Spokespersons

Under the new leadership of Reg Empey, the system of party spokespersons was re-organised so that there is one chief spokesperson for each major policy issue, usually backed up with a support group of rank and file party members.

Chief spokespersons as of January 2006 were:

See also

• Category:Ulster Unionist Party politicians
• List of Ulster Unionist Party MPs

External links

• Ulster Unionist Party
• Young Unionists

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4772777.stm
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4990810.stm

• Articles lacking sources from January 2007
• Political parties in Northern Ireland
• Political parties in the United Kingdom
• Ulster Unionist Party
• Political parties established in 1905
• UK Conservative Party breakaway groups