The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which,by legislation and convention,operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch,currently King Charles III,serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024,serves as the head of the elected government.
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 initially stepped in as an interim after the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson. It is the second-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly,and won five seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom at the 2024 election. The party has been mostly described as 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.
Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson is a British former politician,who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2021 to 2024,and leader of the DUP in the UK House of Commons from 2019 to 2024. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley from 1997 to 2024.
Catharine Letitia Hoey,Baroness Hoey,better known as Kate Hoey,is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 to 2001. During the 1970s Hoey was involved in radical far-left groups but by the end of the decade became involved with the Labour Party. Hoey remained a member of the Labour Party for several decades while she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Vauxhall from 1989 to 2019,but resigned from the party in 2020.
James Hugh Allister is a Northern Irish politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Antrim since the 2024 general election. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) in 2007 and has led the party since its formation. Prior to his election to Westminster,Allister was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim,having been first elected in the 2011 Assembly election.
United Ireland,also referred to as Irish reunification or a New Ireland,is the proposition that all of the island of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present,the island is divided politically:the sovereign state of Ireland has jurisdiction over the majority of Ireland,while Northern Ireland,which lies entirely within the Irish province of Ulster,is part of the United Kingdom. Achieving a united Ireland is a central tenet of Irish nationalism and Republicanism,particularly of both mainstream and dissident republican political and paramilitary organisations. Unionists support Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom and oppose Irish unification.
Arlene Isobel Foster,Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee,,is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who is serving as Chair of Intertrade UK since September 2024. She previously 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.
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.
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".
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
The 2019 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2019 European Parliament election. It was held on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the results 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;it 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,and was the first European election in the United Kingdom since 1999 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. This was the first of two national elections held in the United Kingdom in 2019;the 2019 general election occurred six-and-a-half months later in December 2019.
Richard James Sunley Tice is a British businessman and politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Boston and Skegness and Deputy Leader of Reform UK since 2024,having previously been the chairman of the party from 2019 to 2021 and again briefly in 2024. Since 2023,he has also been Reform UK's energy and foreign-policy spokesman. He became the leader of Reform UK in March 2021,but stood down in June 2024 and was succeeded by Nigel Farage.
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,as 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 in November 2018. 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.
Reform UK,colloquially known as Reform,is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has served as the party's leader since June 2024 and Richard Tice has served as the party's deputy leader since July 2024. The party currently has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one member of the London Assembly. The party also holds representation at the local government level,with most of its local councillors having defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK. Following Farage's resumption of the leadership during the 2024 general election,there was a sharp increase in support for the party. Following the election,it was the third largest party by popular vote,with 14.3 per cent of the vote.
The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland,commonly abbreviated to the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP),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 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.
The Reform UK–TUV alliance was an electoral pact for the 2024 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland between the right-wing Reform UK party and the British unionist and national conservative Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). The parties agreed to stand mutually agreed candidates in 14 constituencies in Northern Ireland.
