The Northern Ireland Unionist Party (NIUP) is a small political party operating in Northern Ireland. The NIUP was formed in January 1999 as a splinter party from the UK Unionist Party (UKUP). This split was caused by disagreement between the five UKUP members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Four of the members diagreed with UKUP leader Robert McCartney's policy of resigning from the Assembly should Sinn Féin become part of the power sharing executive. The four other assembly members, Cedric Wilson , Patrick Roche , Norman Boyd and Roger Hutchinson disagreed with McCartney, wanting to remain in the Assembly to challenge unionists in favour of the Belfast Agreement. McCartney disciplined these members in their absence, and in response they left the UKUP and formed the NIUP. The NIUP, led by Wilson, argued that they had the support of the grass-roots membership of the UKUP, but McCartney disputed this.

Subsequently Hutchinson left the NIUP on 30th November 1999, sitting as an independent Unionist for a period before joining the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). He then left the DUP and unsuccessfully contested the Northern Ireland Assembly Election, 2003 as an independent Unionist.

The NIUP opposes the Belfast Agreement and opposed the reformation of the Royal Ulster Constabulary to the Police Service Northern Ireland. They describe their position as "principled unionism".

In its first electoral test, the party polled very poorly in the 2001 General Election and in the local elections held on the same day, winning no MPs or local councillors. In the Northern Ireland Assembly Election, 2003 the NIUP won no seats at all. At the time of writing, it is not clear what will happen to the party now and the party website is no longer active.

External links

• NIUP Website