United Kingdom Unionist Party

The UKUP was formed in 1995 by Robert McCartney, a former member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), who won a by-election in June 1995 to become a Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of North Down. The main political objective of the UKUP was to maintain the union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain but in addition to campaign for Northern Ireland to become more closely integrated with the rest of the United Kingdom. At the elections to the Northern Ireland Forum in May 1996 it won three seats which entitled it to be present at the multi-party talks which began in June 1996. But the UKUP was totally opposed to the format and content of these negotiations and finally withdrew from these in June 1997. The party was opposed to the Good Friday Agreement which was signed in April 1998 and actively campaigned for a 'No' vote in the referendum campaign in May 1998. At the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly in June 1998 it won five seats. Then in December 1998 disagreements over future strategy between the party leader, McCartney, and his colleagues saw a split developing within the ranks of the UKUP. As a result four of the Assembly members left to form the Northern Ireland Unionist Party (NIUP) in January 1999 and left McCartney as the sole UKUP representative in the Assembly. At the Westminster general election of June 2001 McCartney failed to be re-elected as an MP but did succeed in being returned to the Northern Ireland Assembly in November 2003. The party ceased to exist around 2008.