The Ulster Unionist Coalition Party (UUCP) was a minor unionist political formation in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Following a split in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) majority bloc in Ballymena in 2007, six councillors who objected to the DUP's agreement to share power in the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ...

with

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

left the DUP and redesignated themselves as the "Ulster Unionist Coalition Party". In May 2009, four of the group left to join

Jim Allister James Hugh Allister (born 2 April 1953) is a British Unionist politician and barrister in Northern Ireland. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) political party in 2007, leading the party since its formation. Allister has served ...

Traditional Unionist Voice The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties, the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place ...

(TUV). This left the UUCP with just two councillors. It lost one of those seats on the imprisonment in June 2010 of councillor William Wilkinson, head of research for the pressure group

Families Acting for Innocent Relatives Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1998 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Based in Markethill, it describes itself as a "non-sectarian, non-political organisation" that works "in the inter ...

, following his conviction for rape.
BBC report of councillor's sentence The remaining UUCP councillor,

Davy Tweed David Alexander Tweed (13 November 1959 – 28 October 2021) was a Northern Irish politician, Irish rugby union international and alleged serial child sex offender. He served as a Traditional Unionist Voice councillor on Ballymena Borough Counci ...

, also joined TUV, was re-elected in 2011 to Ballymena Borough Council and was subsequently imprisoned for the sexual abuse of children. The UUCP now has no elected representative and is not registered with the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

References

Political parties established in 2007 Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland Ulster unionist organisations {{Northern-Ireland-party-stub