Conservatives in Northern Ireland

Conservatives in Northern Ireland
Conservatives Northern Ireland
Chairman Irwin Armstrong[1]
Founded 1980s
Headquarters 84 High Street
Bangor, BT20 5BA,
County Down,
Northern Ireland
Ideology Unionism,
Conservatism,
Euroscepticism
Political position Centre-right,
Unionist
National affiliation Conservative Party
International affiliation International Democrat Union
European affiliation Movement for European Reform
European Parliament Group European Conservatives and Reformists
Official colours Blue, Green
European Parliament in Northern Ireland
1 / 3
Website
www.niconservatives.com
Politics of Northern Ireland
Political parties
Elections

The Conservatives Northern Ireland is the section of the Conservative and Unionist Party of the United Kingdom that operates in Northern Ireland. The party currently has a small support base, attracting 0.5% of the poll (3,500 votes) in the 2007 Assembly election.

In 2009 the party agreed to an electoral alliance with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), whereby the two parties will field joint candidates for elections to the House of Commons and the European Parliament under the banner of "Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force".[2] Literature and the web site for the 2009 European Parliament election used "Conservatives and Unionists" as the short name.[3]

Contents

1922–1972

Traditionally the Conservative Party maintained formal links with the UUP, its members taking the Conservative whip in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, much like the then-independent Unionist Party of Scotland, which integrated into the party in England and Wales in the 1960s.

This relationship broke down in 1972, following Unionist opposition to the proposed Sunningdale Agreement, when all but one of the UUP MPs resigned the Conservative whip. The sole exception, Stratton Mills, left the UUP and continued to take the whip for a further year, before joining the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.

Entry into Northern Ireland

The Conservative Party did not organise in Northern Ireland until the late 1980s, when three Unionist members of North Down Borough Council, including George Green, defected to the party. The party doubled its representation there in the local government elections of 1989, becoming the largest party on the council. An Independent Conservative also won a seat on Lisburn Borough council,[4][5] although he joined the UUP before the 1993 local elections. In the 1989 European Elections the Conservative candidate polled 4.8% and was just 2,000 first preference votes behind the Alliance Party candidate.

Subsequently, the Conservatives were boosted by a number of other defectors. Former UUP Assembly members Dorothy Dunlop and Billy Bleakes defected in Belfast and Lisburn respectively, while Robert Mitchell, a former Stormont MP, defected in Coleraine. Mary Ardill, a relative of prominent former Stormont MP Austin Ardill, joined in Carrick and Gary Haggan defected from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Larne. Lloyd Hall-Thompson, another retired former UUP Stormont politician, became chair of the local Lagan Valley branch.[6]

Electoral performance

The Conservatives in Northern Ireland currently have a low support base, attracting 0.5% of the poll (3,500 votes) in the 2007 Assembly election. As of 2007, they currently have no elected representatives in the Northern Ireland Assembly or Parliament. They currently have two councillors, one elected as an Ulster Unionist, and the other elected as a member of the Democratic Unionist Party.[7][8]

The party's best performance came in the 1992 general election, when party candidates polled 44,608 votes across Northern Ireland: 5.7% of the total. Their best performance came in the North Down constituency, where the local party chairman, Laurence Kennedy, came second, 5,000 votes behind the sitting MP James Kilfedder.

Subsequently, the party rapidly declined. In the 1993 council elections, the party lost five council seats, being reduced to six councillors across Northern Ireland. In North Down, the party's support more than halved, from 25% in 1989 to 11% in 1993, although they narrowly managed to win a seat in all four North Down electoral areas. Laurence Kennedy quit Northern Irish politics a few months later, while the party's councillors in Lisburn and Carrick left the party to sit as Independent Unionists. In 1997 they were reduced to two council seats in North Down. Both councillors retired before the 2001 council elections and the party failed to defend one of their seats in 2001 with the other lost, leaving them without elected representation in Northern Ireland.

Policy

The party in Northern Ireland was largely opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, in contrast to the national leadership who were in favour.[9]

Relationship with the UUP

The Conservatives have for some time maintained a close relationship with the UUP. The former UUP leader and First Minister, David Trimble was elevated to the House of Lords on losing his Commons seat. Shortly after standing down from the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007, he took the Conservative whip. On doing so he made it clear that he would not be campaigning on behalf of the Northern Ireland Conservatives in opposition to his former party.[10]

In July 2008 David Cameron and Sir Reg Empey announced a working group to develop a partnership with the UUP.[11] This was implemented in 2009, forming the "Ulster Conservatives and Unionists" for certain electoral purposes. The relationship has since broken down and the Conservatives Northern Ireland are operating completely independently from the UUP.

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7913967.stm
  3. ^ "Profile: Jim Nicholson". BBC News Online. 12 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8039722.stm. Retrieved 30 May 2009. 
  4. ^ Local Government Elections 1985–1989: Lisburn
  5. ^ Gordon Lucy, Northern Ireland Local Government Election Results, Ulster Society Press, 1993
  6. ^ Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies
  7. ^ Northern Ireland News – UUP councillor defects over PUP 'deal'
  8. ^ Nelson declares for East Belfast
  9. ^ Northern Ireland Political Parties
  10. ^ Announcement "I will no longer be campaigning in Northern Ireland for Ulster Unionists, but, having got through the Assembly election in good shape, I am confident for their future. I want to thank all those in Ulster Unionism for their help and friendship over the years, to assure them that I will continue to be committed to Ulster’s place within the Union and that I will never campaign against them.".
  11. ^ Summers, Deborah (24 July 2008). "Cameron plans partnership with Ulster Unionists". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jul/24/davidcameron.conservatives. Retrieved 30 April 2010. 

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