Progressive Unionist Party
|
Progressive Unionist Party
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | Billy Hutchinson |
| Chairman | Brian Lacey |
| Founded | 1979 |
| Headquarters | 299 Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 1AG, County Antrim, Northern Ireland |
| Ideology |
Ulster unionism Democratic socialism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Colours | Red & blue |
| Northern Irish seats in the House of Commons |
0 / 18
|
| European Parliament (Northern Irish seats) |
0 / 3
|
| Northern Ireland Assembly |
0 / 108
|
| Local government in Northern Ireland |
4 / 462
|
| Website | |
| http://www.pupni.com/ | |
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a small unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando (RHC), it was for a time the only left-wing party of unionism in Northern Ireland, with its main support base in the loyalist working class communities of Belfast.
Since the Ulster Democratic Party's dissolution in 2001, the PUP has been the sole party in Northern Ireland representing paramilitary loyalism.
The party was founded by Hugh Smyth in the mid-1970s as the "Independent Unionist Group". In 1977, two prominent members of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, David Overend and Jim McDonald, joined. Overend subsequently wrote many of the group's policy documents, including much of the NILP's platform.
In 1979, Smyth, Overend, McDonald and John Irvine undertook a speaking tour of Canada on behalf of the party. Overend also met with United States State Department officials, but Smyth and McDonald were refused US visas. Later that year, the group was renamed the "Progressive Unionist Party".
The party has had a degree of electoral success. In 1994 PUP leader Hugh Smyth became Lord Mayor of Belfast, and in the 1996 elections to the Northern Ireland Forum they secured two seats, with Smyth and David Ervine both being elected. The PUP supported the Belfast Agreement and in the 1998 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly they also won two seats, with representatives Billy Hutchinson and David Ervine elected from the Belfast North and East constituencies respectively. Hutchinson lost his seat in the 2003 election, leaving Ervine as their sole Assembly representative. This was followed by a poor showing in the Northern Ireland local election of 2005, where Smyth and Ervine were their only two members to retain their seats on local authorities, and the party now seems to be in a state of decline.
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Wikipedia