The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist,loyalist,British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley,who led the party for the next 37 years. It is currently led by Gavin Robinson,who is stepping in as an interim after the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson. It is the second largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly,and is the fifth-largest party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The party has been described as centre-right to right-wing and socially conservative,being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and republicanism. It is also Eurosceptic and supported Brexit.
James Hugh Allister is a British Unionist politician and barrister in Northern Ireland. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) political party in 2007,leading the party since its formation. Allister has served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim since 2011,and is the TUV’s only representative in the Assembly.
Arlene Isobel Foster,Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee,,is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2017 and 2020 to 2021 and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2015 to 2021. Foster was the first woman to hold either position. She is a Member of the House of Lords,having previously been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2003 to 2021.
Dublin is a European Parliament constituency in Ireland. It elects 4 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) using proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (STV).
South is a European Parliament constituency in Ireland. It elects 5 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) using proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).
Edwin Poots is a British politician from Northern Ireland,serving as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since February 2024. He served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from May to June 2021. He was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in 1998. As of 2023,Poots was the DUP's Spokesperson for Institutional Reform and Hard to Reach Communities.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties,the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom. A founding precept of the party is that "nothing which is morally wrong can be politically right".
The 2019 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2019 European Parliament election,held on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the results were announced on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 May 2019,after all the other EU countries had voted. This was the United Kingdom's final participation in a European Parliament election before leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020,and was also the last election to be held under the provisions of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 before its repeal under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months after the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed due to the resignation of the First Minister,Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),in protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The United Kingdom's post-Brexit relationship with the European Union and its members is governed by the Brexit withdrawal agreement and the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The latter was negotiated in 2020 and has applied since January 2021.
The impact of Brexit on the Irish border and its adjacent polities involves changes in trade,customs,immigration checks,local economies,services,recognition of qualifications,medical cooperation,and other matters,now that it is the only land border between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
The Brexit withdrawal agreement,officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community,is a treaty between the European Union (EU),Euratom,and the United Kingdom (UK),signed on 24 January 2020,setting the terms of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and Euratom. The text of the treaty was published on 17 October 2019,and is a renegotiated version of an agreement published half a year earlier. The earlier version of the withdrawal agreement was rejected by the House of Commons on three occasions,leading to the resignation of Theresa May as Prime Minister and the appointment of Boris Johnson as the new prime minister on 24 July 2019.
The Irish backstop was a proposed protocol to a draft Brexit withdrawal agreement that never came into force. It was developed by the May government and the European Commission in December 2017 and finalised in November 2018,that aimed to prevent an evident border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit.
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Catherine Blaiklock with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party,advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit. It was a significant political force at the 2019 European Parliament election,but failed to win any seats at the 2019 general election. After the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020,it was renamed to Reform UK,and it became primarily an anti-lockdown party during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2022,the party has campaigned on a platform of broader right-wing populist issues,chiefly surrounding illegal migration and the government’s Net Zero energy policy.
The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland,commonly abbreviated to the Northern Ireland Protocol,is a protocol to the Brexit withdrawal agreement that sets out Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit relationship with both the EU and Great Britain. The Withdrawal Agreement,including the Protocol,came into effect on 1 January 2021. Citing the island of Ireland's "unique circumstances," the Protocol governs unique arrangements on the island between the United Kingdom and the European Union;it regulates some aspects of trade in goods between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
The 2019 European Parliament election for the election of the delegation from the United Kingdom was held on 23 May 2019. These were the last elections to the European Parliament to be held before Brexit.
The Irish Sea border is an informal term for the trade border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. It was specified by the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit withdrawal agreement,was refined by the Joint Committee in December 2020,and came into effect on 1 January 2021 following the end of the Brexit transition period. As a result of the Agreement,Northern Ireland remains aligned to the European Single Market in a limited way for goods,whilst remaining part of the United Kingdom customs territory and the UK internal market. Its effect is that the need for customs checks on the Irish border has been avoided,and a hard border has not been re-established.
A Northern Ireland Assembly election will be held to elect 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly by 6 May 2027.
The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill 2022–23 was a proposed Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sought to unilaterally override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP). The NIP is the part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement that governs some aspects of trade in goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain,as well as between Northern Ireland and the European Union. The bill was introduced to address what the government call 'unacceptable barriers to trade' that the protocol introduced within the UK internal market. The bill was criticised by most members of the Northern Ireland Assembly,by the European Commission,and by member states of the European Union. It was characterised in the UK and abroad as a breach of international law.
The Reform UK–TUV alliance is an electoral pact for the next United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland between the right-wing populist,Reform UK party and the British unionist and national conservative,Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). The two parties will stand mutually agreed candidates in up to 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland.
