The United Ulster Unionist Council (also known as the United Ulster Unionist Coalition) was a body that sought to bring together the Unionists opposed to the

Sunningdale Agreement The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The agreement was signed at Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973. Unioni ...

in Northern Ireland.

Formation

The UUUC was established in January 1974. It was organised by

Harry West Henry William West (27 March 1917 – 5 February 2004) was a politician in Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1974 until 1979. Career to Stormont West was born in County Fermanagh and educated at Portora Ro ...

and constituted a formal electoral pact between his

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the I ...

, the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, and National conservatism, national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, ...

and the

Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party The Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (VUPP), informally known as Ulster Vanguard, was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1972 and 1978. Led by William Craig, the party emerged from a split in the Ulster Unio ...

. West arranged the movement, having gained control of the UUP from

Brian Faulkner Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977), was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the chief executive ...

, to galvanise opposition to power sharing arrangements that were being put in place and to run against Faulkner's Pro-Assembly Unionists who later formed themselves into the

Unionist Party of Northern Ireland The Unionist Party of Northern Ireland was a political party founded by Brian Faulkner in September 1974. Formation The party emerged following splits in the Ulster Unionist Party in 1973 and 1974 over the British government's white paper ''Nor ...

.W.D. Flackes & Sydney Elliott, ''Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968–1993'', Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 346

Development

The UUUC first tested its political credentials in the 1974 general election and the party captured 11 out of 12 Northern Irish seats (7 UUP, 3 VUPP, 1 DUP), whilst the Pro-Assembly Unionists failed to win any seats. In April the group arranged a coalition conference at

Portrush Portrush () is a small seaside resort town on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It neighbours the resort of Portstewart. The main part of the old town, including the railway station as well as most hotels, restaurants and bars, ...

during which they agreed a joint policy statement that included an end to power-sharing, elections to a new Assembly that would use

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

but with smaller constituencies, the abolition of the

Council of Ireland The Council of Ireland was a statutory body established under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 as an all-Ireland law-making authority with limited jurisdiction, initially over both Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, and later solely over ...

and any concept of cross-border institutions and the removal of the veto held by the

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a wh ...

. In the general election of October that same year the UUUC lost West's seat, Fermanagh and South Tyrone, to Frank Maguire, an independent Republican running as an agreed candidate, leaving them with 10 overall. At

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bucki ...

the coalition operated under the name of Unionist Parliamentary Coalition with West accepted as leader until his elimination from parliament when Jim Molyneaux took over as coalition chief. The UUUC remained fairly coherent as it united behind the Ulster Workers Council Strike in mid 1974 and continued for 1975 elections to the Constitutional Convention in which the group won 46 out of the 78 seats.

Decline

The UUUC began to fall apart in 1976 when VUPP leader William Craig suggested working in a potential coalition government with the

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

. When it became clear that Craig's ideas were not in keeping with those of his partners, Vanguard split with his opponents setting up the

United Ulster Unionist Party The United Ulster Unionist Party (UUUP) was a 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 traditional ...

(UUUP) while Craig's supporters stayed with Vanguard which left the UUUC. The UUUC thereafter consisted of the UUP, DUP and UUUP. The UUUC set up the United Unionist Action Council (UUAC) in 1977 a policy group and an activism co-ordinating committee. Chaired by Joseph Burns and featuring DUP leader

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...

and UUUP leader

Ernest Baird Ernest Baird (1930 – September 2003) was a politician in Northern Ireland. Baird was born in County Donegal in the Irish Free State but moved with his family to Belfast at an early age. A pharmacist and political unionist, Baird became the de ...

, the group included representatives from loyalist paramilitary groups the

Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...

Down Orange Welfare Down Orange Welfare was an Ulster loyalist paramilitary vigilante group active in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. Operating in rural areas of County Down, the group faded after failing to win support away from larger groups such as the Ulster De ...

and the

Orange Volunteers The Orange Volunteers (OV) or Orange Volunteer Force (OVF) is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1998 by loyalists who opposed the Belfast Agreement and the loyalist ceasefires. Over the following ye ...

and also organised its own vigilante group under the name

Ulster Service Corps The Ulster Service Corps (USC) was a loyalist vigilante group with a paramilitary structure active in Northern Ireland in the late 1970s. Although short-lived it briefly had a sizeable membership. One of a number of small independent loyalist param ...

.Flackes & Elliott, p. 347 The UUAC helped organise the May 1977 strike by the

Ulster Workers Council The Ulster Workers' Council was a loyalist workers' organisation set up in Northern Ireland in 1974 as a more formalised successor to the Loyalist Association of Workers (LAW). It was formed by shipyard union leader Harry Murray and initially fai ...

, that sought to repeat the effects of 1974. However the second strike proved much less effective and did not get the backing of the Ulster Unionists, who in fact campaigned against it. The strike proved the final straw for the UUUC with the UUP, DUP and UUUP going their separate ways after it collapsed.

Members

References

External links

UUUC Manifesto for 1975
{{Authority control Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland Political parties established in 1974 Ulster unionist organisations 1974 establishments in Northern Ireland