The Unionist Party of Northern Ireland was a political party founded by Brian Faulkner in September 1974.
The party emerged following splits in the Ulster Unionist Party in 1974 over the Sunningdale Agreement. Faulkner had led the UUP into a power-sharing coalition but in January 1974 he was deposed as leader as the anti-Sunningdale faction of the party won control. In the February 1974 general election a number of Faulkner's followers (including several sitting MPs) stood as "Pro Assembly Unionists" againsty a coalition of the Ulster Unionist Party, the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. They failed to win a single seat at Westminster, and this defeat contributed to the downfall of the power sharing Executive established by Sunningdale. However they remained active and in September constituted themselves as the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, committeed to a return to powersharing as a settlement for Northern Ireland.
The party did not prosper. In the October 1974 general election they again failed to make much ground. Then in the 1975 elections to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention they won only a handful of seats, compared to a substantial block of anti-powersharing Unionists. Consequently the influence of both the UPNI and Faulkner waned.
As a result, in 1976 Faulkner stepped down as leader of the party (and withdrew from active politics) and was succeeded by Anne Dickson, the first woman to lead a political party in Northern Ireland. However the party continued to make little ground, especially as the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland gained momentum as a party committed to power sharing and the maintenance of the Union. As a result in 1981 the UPNI was formally dissolved.
Faulkner himself died in a riding accident in 1977
The second elections to the NorthernIreland Assembly, which at the time of the elections had been suspended for just over a year, were held on Thursday, November 26, 2003.
On the unionist side, the Democratic UnionistParty gained ten seats, primarily at the expense of smaller Unionistparties, to become the largest party both in seats and votes.
The Alliance Party managed to hold all six of its seats despite their vote almost halving, the Women's Coalition, United Unionist Coalition and NorthernIrelandUnionistParty were all wiped out, and the Progressive UnionistParty and UK UnionistParty had just one seat each.
The Ulster UnionistParty (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official UnionistParty or OUP or, in a historic sense, simply the UnionistParty) is a moderate unionist political party in NorthernIreland, which formed its government between 1921 and 1972 and was supported by most unionists throughout the Troubles.
Throughout this period the party was affiliated to the National Union of the Conservative Party and Ulster Unionist MPs at the Westminster Parliament were a part of the conservative block.
While the party was considering structural reforms, including the connection with the Order, it was the Order itself that severed the connection after many of its members transferred their allegiance to the Democratic UnionistParty.
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