The Young Unionists, formally known as the Ulster Young Unionist Council (UYUC), is the youth wing of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). It has in its present incarnation been in existence since 2004.

History

Attempts had been made in the 1920s to create a youth movement linked to that of the Conservative Party (the Junior Imperial and Constitutional League) without much success. A second attempt was made before the outbreak of the Second World War, which also failed. The UYUC was formed by the Standing Committee of the Ulster Unionist Council in 1946 and quickly became a successful movement in South & West Belfast,

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of a ...

and Down.Faulkner, Brian, Memoirs of a Statesman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1978 The body's first Chairman was future Prime Minister of Northern Ireland,

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 ...

In 1959, Brian Maginess, Q.C., and Sir Clarence Graham, Bt., spoke to the Young Unionists advocating an increase in Roman Catholic membership of the UUP. This was regarded as controversial at the time. The body created many prominent figures in Northern Ireland politics throughout the 1960s and 1970s such as Bill Craig and John D. Taylor; however, disagreements over Government policy and other factors left the body in disarray by the early 1970s, and it disbanded following the collapse of the

Stormont Parliament The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore o ...

. The body re-emerged under the Chairmanship of

David McNarry David McNarry (born 25 May 1948) is a UK Independence Party (UKIP) politician in Northern Ireland, who was the leader of UKIP Northern Ireland from 2012 to 2016. He stood for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in North Down in the 1982 Assembly el ...

and continued to thrive throughout the 1980s, producing figures such as

Edgar Graham Edgar Samuel David Graham, MPA, BL (1954 – 7 December 1983), was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and academic from Northern Ireland. He was regarded as a rising star of both legal studies and Unionism, and a possible future leader ...

Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leade ...

, Peter Weir and

Arlene Foster Arlene Isobel Foster, Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (née Kelly; born 17 July 1970), is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2017 and from 2020 to 2021 and ...

with the latter 3 defecting to the DUP.

1990s to present

The body's membership was strongly opposed to the

Belfast Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in N ...

in 1998, and many campaigned against it. At the 2004 AGM the officers voted to disband the group. A new organisation was reconstituted later that year and has since enjoyed a period of sustained growth. The UYUC has branches at Queen's University, Belfast, the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

and branches at constituency level in th
City of Belfast
Mid-Ulster/West Tyrone, Lagan Valley and also Newry and Armagh/South Down, as well as Fermanagh & South Tyrone. The youth wing has produced many current and former senior faces in the party including The Lord Laird, The Lord Rogan,

MP MLA and

, all of whom are former Chairmen, as well as Lord Empey, who served as Vice Chairman.

Current activities

In recent years the Young Unionists have continued to function as an active political youth wing. In the 2014 local government elections 11 members of the Young Unionists were returned as councillors. This represents over 10% of the UUP's total councillors. The Young Unionists host a number of events on an annual basis including a summer debate series and conference.

2022 Officers

*Chairman: Mr. Ben Sharkey *Hon. Secretary: Miss Kellie Cowan *Hon. Treasurer: Mr. Nathan Redmond *Senior Vice-Chairman: Cllr. Matthew Bell *Vice-Chairman (International): Miss Olivia Swan *Public Relations Officer: Miss Alana Cahoon *Events Organiser: Mr. Adam Aicken *Membership Secretary: Mr. Josh Lowry *Universities Officer: Mr. Jay Buntin

Chairpersons

Second UYUC *1998 & 1999: Peter King *2002 & 2003: Cllr. Peter Brown Current UYUC *2004: Mr. Kenny Donaldson *2005: Cllr. Peter Bowles *2006 & 2007: Cllr. Mark Dunn *2008: Mr. Peter Munce (January 2008 - October 2008) *2008 & 2009: Mr. Michael Shilliday *2010 & 2011: Mr. Alasdair O'Hara *2012 & 2013: Mr. Frank Geddis *2014: Cllr. Alexander Redpath *2015: Ms. Cathy Corbett *2016 & 2017: Cllr. Alexander Redpath *2018 & 2019: Mr. Joshua Lowry *2020 & 2021: Cllr. Stuart Hughes *2022 : Mr. Ben Sharkey

References

Sources

*'The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882–1973 : its development and organisation' (1973), J F Harbinson *'A history of the Ulster Unionist Party : protest, pragmatism and pessimism' (2004) Graham Walker *'The Ulster Unionist Party 1972–92 (A Political Movement in an Era of Conflict and Change)' (1996), Dr David Hume

External links

Website
{{Youth wings of Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists member parties Youth wings of political parties in Ireland Youth wings of political parties in Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party Youth wings of Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe member parties