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The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905,emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson,it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movement. Following the partition of Ireland,it was the governing party of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. It was supported by most unionist voters throughout the conflict known as the Troubles,during which time it was often referred to as the Official Unionist Party (OUP).
Loyalism,in the United Kingdom,its overseas territories and its former colonies,refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America,the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Crown,notably with the loyalists opponents of the American Revolution,and United Empire Loyalists who moved to other colonies in British North America after the revolution.
Unionism in Ireland is a political tradition that professes loyalty to the crown of the United Kingdom and to the union it represents with England,Scotland and Wales. The overwhelming sentiment of Ireland's Protestant minority,unionism mobilised in the decades following Catholic Emancipation in 1829 to oppose restoration of a separate Irish parliament. Since Partition in 1921,as Ulster unionism its goal has been to retain Northern Ireland as a devolved region within the United Kingdom and to resist the prospect of an all-Ireland republic. Within the framework of the 1998 Belfast Agreement,which concluded three decades of political violence,unionists have shared office with Irish nationalists in a reformed Northern Ireland Assembly. As of February 2024,they no longer do so as the larger faction:they serve in an executive with an Irish republican First Minister.
The Ulster Popular Unionist Party (UPUP) was a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1980 by James Kilfedder,independent Unionist Member of Parliament for North Down,who led the party until his death in 1995. For a brief period in 1980,it was known as the Ulster Progressive Unionist Party before it adopted the "Popular" name.
Peter James Weir,Baron Weir of Ballyholme is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who served as Minister for Education in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2016 to 2017 and from 2020 to 2021. Weir was the first non-Sinn Féin legislator to head the Department of Education since the department came into existence on 2 December 1999.
Lisburn City Council was the local authority for an area partly in County Antrim and partly in County Down in Northern Ireland. As of May 2015 it was merged with Castlereagh Borough Council as part of the reform of local government in Northern Ireland to become Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council.
The Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA),also known as the Irish Unionist Party,Irish Unionists or simply the Unionists,was a unionist political party founded in Ireland in 1891 from a merger of the Irish Conservative Party and the Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union (ILPU) to oppose plans for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The party was led for much of its existence by Colonel Edward James Saunderson and later by St John Brodrick,1st Earl of Midleton. In total,eighty-six members of the House of Lords affiliated themselves with the Irish Unionist Alliance,although its broader membership among Irish voters outside Ulster was relatively small.
Reginald Norman Morgan Empey,Baron Empey,,best known as Reg Empey,is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010. He was the chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2012 to 2019. Empey was also twice Lord Mayor of Belfast and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2011.
The by-election held in Fermanagh and South Tyrone on 9 April 1981 is considered by many to be the most significant by-election held in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It saw the first electoral victory for militant Irish republicanism,which the following year entered electoral politics in full force as Sinn Féin. The successful candidate was the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands,who died twenty-six days later.
Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists,loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom,and oppose a united Ireland independent of the UK. Unlike other strands of unionism,loyalism has been described as an ethnic nationalism of Ulster Protestants and "a variation of British nationalism". Loyalists are often said to have a conditional loyalty to the British state so long as it defends their interests. They see themselves as loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to British governments and institutions,while Garret FitzGerald argued they are loyal to 'Ulster' over 'the Union'. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state,believing they cannot rely on British governments to support them. The term 'loyalism' is usually associated with paramilitarism.
Michael McGimpsey is a former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 1998 to 2016.
Hugh Smyth OBE was a Northern Irish Ulster Loyalist and politician who was leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 1979 to 2002,as well as during an interim period in 2011. He was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1994 to 1995,as well as a Belfast City Councillor for the Court DEA from 1972 to 2014,making him one of the longest-serving members on the Council. Smyth was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Year's Honours list.
Independent Unionist has been a label sometimes used by candidates in elections in the United Kingdom,indicating a support for British unionism.
Danny Kennedy is a Northern Irish unionist politician who served as Chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from December 2019 to May 2022. Kennedy previously served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Newry and Armagh from 1998 to 2017.
The Northern Ireland Conservatives is a section of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party that operates in Northern Ireland. The Conservative are the only major British party to field candidates within Northern Ireland and typically contests only a fraction of seats in elections. The party won 0.03% of the vote in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election and 0.7% of the vote in the 2019 United Kingdom General election in Northern Ireland.
The Young Unionists,formally known as the Ulster Young Unionist Council (UYUC),is the youth wing of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). It has in its present incarnation been in existence since 2004.
The 1946 Down by-election was held on 6 June 1946,following the death of James Little,the independent Unionist Member of Parliament for Down.
George Green was a Northern Irish unionist politician.
May Steele was a Northern Irish Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician who was Party President from 2016 to 2020,and a Member of the Northern Ireland Forum for East Antrim from 1996 to 1998.
Alan Chambers is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was acting Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly between 2022 and 2024. Chambers has been an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down since 2016. He currently serves as Chairperson of the Assembly's Audit Committee.
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