Ulster Independence Committee
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Ulster Independence Movement
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|---|---|
| Leader | Hugh Ross |
| Founded | 17 November 1988 |
| Dissolved | January 2000 (as a political party) |
| Preceded by | Ulster Clubs |
| Succeeded by | Ulster Third Way |
| Ideology | Ulster nationalism |
The Ulster Independence Movement was an Ulster nationalist political party founded (as the Ulster Independence Committee) on 17 November 1988. The group emerged from the Ulster Clubs, after a series of 15 public meetings across Northern Ireland. Led by Hugh Ross, a Presbyterian minister from Dungannon, County Tyrone, the UIC sought to end what it saw as the tyranny of rule from London (and potentially Dublin) and instead set up an independent Northern Ireland.
The UIC initially had a network of 11 branches and first entered the political arena in 1990 when Ross stood in a by-election for the Upper Bann constituency following the death of sitting MP Harold McCusker. Finishing as fourth out of eleven candidates with 1534 votes (4.3%) (and ahead of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland candidate), the result indicated to the UIC that there was potential for an Ulster nationalist party.
The Committee reconstituted itself in 1994 as a full political party (largely as a reaction to the Downing Street Declaration), changing its name to the UIM and putting forward Ross as a candidate in the 1994 elections to the European Parliament (one of three pro-independence candidates to stand). Ross proved the most successful of the three, gaining 7,858 first preference votes (a 1.4% share) and retained his deposit. In the aftermath of this election a general meeting of pro-independence groups and individuals was organised by Ross after overtures were sent out to David Kerr, Robert Mooney (the other two Ulster nationalist candidates in the European election) and the Ballymena-based Ulster Party. Mooney did not turn up but Kerr and Agnes McLeister of the Ulster Party agreed to pool resources and join forces with Ross' movement.
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