View source for United Ulster Unionist Party

{{Redirect|UUUM|the Japanese company|Uuum (company)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2009}}
{{Infobox political party
|name = United Ulster Unionist Party
|colorcode = {{party color|United Ulster Unionist Party}}
|logo = Logo of the United Ulster Unionist Party.svg
|leader = [[Ernest Baird]]
|leader1_name = [[Reg Empey]]
|leader1_title = Deputy Leader
|founded = 1975
|dissolved = May 1984
|merger = 
|split = [[Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party|Ulster Vanguard]]
|headquarters = 
|newspaper = 
|student_wing = 
|youth_wing = 
|ideology = [[Ulster loyalism]]<br />[[Sunningdale Agreement|Anti-Power Sharing]]<br />[[Parliament of Northern Ireland|Return of devolution]]
|national = [[United Ulster Unionist Council|UUUC]] <small>(1975-77)</small>
|international = 
|colours = 
|state = Northern Ireland
}}

The '''United Ulster Unionist Party''' ('''UUUP''') was a [[Unionists (Ireland)|unionist]] political party which existed in [[Northern Ireland]] between 1975 and 1984.

It emerged from a division in the [[Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party]] in the late 1970s. Vanguard had traditionally opposed the concept of compulsory power sharing with [[Irish nationalism|nationalists]] enshrined in the [[Sunningdale Agreement]], but after the failure of Sunningdale, the [[Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention]] was set up to provide a forum with the aim of finding a new settlement for Northern Ireland. During the proceedings the leader of Vanguard, [[William Craig (Northern Ireland politician)|William Craig]], proposed a voluntary coalition with the nationalist [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]]. Many in Vanguard found this anathema, including the party's deputy leader [[Ernest Baird]], [[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster]] MP [[John Dunlop (Northern Ireland politician)|John Dunlop]] and [[Belfast East (UK Parliament constituency)|East Belfast]] Convention member (and future [[Ulster Unionist Party]] leader) [[Reg Empey]]. They left Vanguard and formed the '''United Ulster Unionist Movement'''. Initially Baird insisted that this was not a party since the original aim was to create a single Unionist party. When this aim proved unattainable, the UUUM became a party, rebranding as the United Ulster Unionist Party on 26 April 1977, led by Baird, with Empey as Deputy Leader and [[Cecil Harvey (Northern Ireland politician)|Cecil Harvey]] as Chief Whip and Chairman.<ref>W.D. Flackes & Sydnet Elliott, ''Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1993'', Belfast, 1994, p. 347</ref>

Many critics highlighted the irony of the name, given that the UUUP was a breakaway from Vanguard, itself a breakaway from the [[Ulster Unionist Party]] and there were many other Unionist parties in existence. The name is deliberately evocative of the [[United Ulster Unionist Council]] which was once heavily steered by the founding members of the UUUP.

The UUUP did not prosper long. In the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]] Dunlop held his seat but only due to an agreement with other unionist parties to not divide the unionist vote where a nationalist might get elected.<ref name="Mid">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cmu.htm|title=Mid Ulster 1973-82|website=www.ark.ac.uk|access-date=2020-09-08|archive-date=2018-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623075559/http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cmu.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Elsewhere Baird stood in [[Fermanagh and South Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)|Fermanagh and South Tyrone]], dividing the unionist vote but polling poorly.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cfst.htm|title=Fermanagh and South Tyrone 1973-1982|website=www.ark.ac.uk|access-date=2020-09-08|archive-date=2020-07-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729131924/https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cfst.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> It has been argued that it was Baird's candidacy that ensured a victory for [[Frank Maguire (politician)|Frank Maguire]] in the seat.<ref>David Boothroyd, ''The History of British Political Parties'', 2001, p. 331</ref>

The decline was evident even before the [[1981 Northern Ireland local elections|local government elections of 1981]] as 4 of the 12 UUUP councillors elected in [[1977 Northern Ireland local elections|1977]] had defected to other Unionist parties (2 to UUP, 1 to DUP and 1 to the [[Ulster Popular Unionist Party]]). The party had a miserable showing in the 1981 elections with its overall vote share declining from 2.8% in 1977 to 0.7% in 1981. It only won 5 council seats (a decline of 7 seats) and even then one of these was purely due to a quirk of the electoral system, as the party only polled 105 votes (1.6%) in Lisburn 'E' against 1,909 (30.0%) for the DUP and 1,830 (28.7%) for the UUP. However they benefited from the other two Unionist parties only putting up one candidate each and benefitted from hefty transfers to win an unlikely seat.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/flg81.htm|title=Local Government Elections 1981|website=www.ark.ac.uk|access-date=2020-09-08|archive-date=2021-03-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316144350/https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/flg81.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The party didn't stand at all in the first [[1979 European Parliament election|European Parliament election (1979)]] because of its opposition to the EEC's existence.

In 1982 a new Northern Ireland Assembly was established to provide a degree of scrutiny over the [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]]. The UUUP got a derisory vote, with even Dunlop getting barely 3% of the vote in his [[Mid Ulster (Assembly constituency)#1982 Assembly Election|Mid Ulster]] constituency.<ref name="Mid"/> The party soon folded. Dunlop remained as MP for Mid Ulster until the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]] but did not contest his seat. The formal end came in May 1984 when Baird dissolved the party and left it to individual members to choose which Unionist party to join in its wake.

==Election results: 1979==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Constituency !! Candidate !! Votes !! % !! Position
|-
|[[Fermanagh and South Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)|Fermanagh and South Tyrone]] || {{sortname|Ernest|Baird}} || 10,607 || 17.0 || 4
|-
|[[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster]] || {{sortname|John|Dunlop|John Dunlop (Northern Ireland politician)}} || 29,249 || 44.7 || 1
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1975]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1984]]
[[Category:1975 establishments in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Protestant political parties]]
[[Category:Ulster loyalist organisations]]
[[Category:Ulster unionist organisations]]
[[Category:1984 disestablishments in Northern Ireland]]