Unionist Party
Encyclopedia

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the term "unionist' may indicate support for either;
  • the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland
    Scotland
    Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

     and England
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

     or,
  • the 1800 Act of Union
    Act of Union 1800
    The Acts of Union 1800 describe two complementary Acts, namely:* the Union with Ireland Act 1800 , an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and...

     between Ireland
    Ireland
    Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

     (and more recently Northern Ireland
    Northern Ireland
    Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

    ) and Great Britain
    Great Britain
    Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

    .


Nationally, the full name of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 is the Conservative and Unionist Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

.

In Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 (see Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...

 and Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...

), active parties include:
  • Democratic Unionist Party
    Democratic Unionist Party
    The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

     (DUP) - The larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland; founded by Ian Paisley
    Ian Paisley
    Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...

     and currently led by Peter Robinson
    Peter Robinson (politician)
    Peter David Robinson is the current First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party...

    . The largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly
    Northern Ireland Assembly
    The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...

     and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
    • Protestant Unionist Party
      Protestant Unionist Party
      The Protestant Unionist Party was a unionist political party operating in Northern Ireland from 1966 to 1971. It was set up by Ian Paisley, and was the forerunner of the modern Democratic Unionist Party and emerged from the Ulster Protestant Action movement.The UPA had two councillors elected,...

       - formed by Ian Paisley
      Ian Paisley
      Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...

       in 1966 out of the Ulster Protestant Action
      Ulster Protestant Action
      Ulster Protestant Action was an loyalist and Protestant fundamentalist vigilante group in Northern Ireland.The group was founded at a special meeting at the Ulster Unionist Party's offices in Glengall Street, Belfast, in 1956. Among the attendees were many loyalists who were to become major...

       (UPA) movement. It was the forerunner of the Democratic Unionist Party and disbanded in 1971 with the DUP's formation
  • Ulster Unionist Party
    Ulster Unionist Party
    The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

     (UUP) - The smaller and more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. It governed Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972 as the sole Unionist party.
    • Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force
      Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force
      The Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, officially registered as the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force , is a bipartisan electoral alliance in Northern Ireland between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Northern Ireland branch of the Conservative Party, the latter party also being...

       (Conservatives and Unionists) - electoral alliance
      Electoral alliance
      An electoral alliance may take the form of a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc. It is an association of political parties or individuals which exists solely to stand in elections...

       between the UUP and the Conservatives in Northern Ireland
      Conservatives in Northern Ireland
      The Conservatives Northern Ireland is the section of the Conservative and Unionist Party of the United Kingdom that operates in Northern Ireland...

      , the Northern Ireland arm of the Conservative Party
  • Progressive Unionist Party
    Progressive Unionist Party
    The Progressive Unionist Party 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...

     (PUP), minor loyalist party formed in 1979
  • Ulster Unionist Labour Association
    Ulster Unionist Labour Association
    The Ulster Unionist Labour Association was an association of trade unionists founded by Edward Carson in June 1918, aligned with the Ulster Unionists in Northern Ireland. Members were known as Labour Unionists. 1918 and 1919 were the years of intense class conflict throughout Britain. This period...

     (or Labour Unionist Party)


Defunct parties include:
  • Independent Unionist Association
    Independent Unionist Association
    The Independent Unionist Association or Independent Unionist Party was a political party in Northern Ireland.The organisation was founded in 1937, shortly before the announcement of the Northern Ireland general election, 1938. It consisted of a disparate group of independent Unionists, and...

     (or Independent Unionist Party) - existed from 1937 to late 1940s. Consisted of a disparate group of independent Unionist
    Independent Unionist
    See also Independent .Independent Unionist has been a label sometimes used by candidates in elections in the United Kingdom, indicating a support for Unionism, retaining the unity of the British state....

    s, and included Tommy Henderson
    Tommy Henderson
    Thomas Gibson Henderson was an Ulster independent Unionist politician. He served in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland from 1925 to 1953 in vigorous opposition to the Unionist governments on all issues other than the partition of Ireland, and is famous for having at one stage spoken for...

    , member of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland
    House of Commons of Northern Ireland
    The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished with the passing of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act...

  • Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (Ulster Vanguard), existed from 1973 and 1978; far-right party
  • Unionist Party of Northern Ireland
    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 Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals, the Northern...

    , existed from 1974 and 1981
  • United Ulster Unionist Party
    United Ulster Unionist Party
    The United Ulster Unionist Party was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1975 and 1984.It emerged from a division in the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party in the late 1970s...

    , existed from 1975 and 1982, splinted from the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party due to a disagreement over power-sharing
  • Ulster Popular Unionist Party
    Ulster Popular Unionist Party
    The Ulster Popular Unionist Party was a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1980 by James Kilfedder, independent Unionist Member of Parliament for North Down, who led the party until his death in 1995....

    , existed from 1980 to 1995; led by James Kilfedder
    James Kilfedder
    Sir James Alexander Kilfedder was a Northern Ireland unionist politician.-Early life:...

  • UK Unionist Party
    UK Unionist Party
    The UK Unionist Party was a small unionist political party operating in Northern Ireland from 1995 to 2008. It was nominally formed by Robert McCartney, formerly of the Ulster Unionist Party, to contest a by-election the North Down by-election, 1995 and then further constituted to contest the 1996...

    , existed 1995 to 2008
  • Northern Ireland Unionist Party
    Northern Ireland Unionist Party
    The Northern Ireland Unionist Party was a small political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed in January 1999 as a splinter party from the UK Unionist Party . This split was caused by disagreement between the five UKUP members of the Northern Ireland Assembly...

    , existed 1999 to 2008


In Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 (see Unionism in Scotland):
  • Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, full name of what is usually referred to as the Scottish Conservative Party
  • Scottish Unionist Party (1986), Scottish minor party of traditionalist unionists disillusioned with the Conservative government's signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement
    Anglo-Irish Agreement
    The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland...

  • Unionist Party (Scotland), centre-right party that existed between 1912 and 1965, dominant force in Scottish politics until the late 1950s

India (under British rule)

  • Unionist Party (Punjab) - a major political party in the former Punjab Province until 1947.

Worldwide

Nation Party/Parties
 Canada
  • Unionist Party (Canada)
    Unionist Party (Canada)
    The Unionist Party was formed in 1917 by Members of Parliament in Canada who supported the "Union government" formed by Sir Robert Borden during the First World War....

     of 1917-1920
  • Unionest Party
    Unionest Party
    The Unionest Party was a provincial political party in Saskatchewan, Canada, in the early 1980s, that advocated union between the four western provinces of Canada and the United States....

 Denmark
  • Union Party (Faroe Islands)
  •  Egypt
  • National Progressive Unionist Party
    National Progressive Unionist Party
    The National Progressive Unionist Party is a socialist political party in Egypt. The party is considered to be the defender of the principles of the 1952 Revolution...

  •  Guatemala
  • Unionist Party
    Unionist Party (Guatemala)
    The Unionist Party is a conservative political party in Guatemala, who advocates the re-creation of a Central American union....

  •  Nicaragua
  • Central American Unionist Party
    Central American Unionist Party
    The Central American Unionist Party is a center-right Nicaraguan political party.PUCA was originally established as a cultural grouping advocating 'Central Americanization' in 1904. Renamed the Committee of State in 1944, it began to act as a political party after the Sandanistas gained power in...

  •  South Africa
  • Unionist Party
    Unionist Party (South Africa)
    The Unionist Party of South Africa was a pre-apartheid South African political party, which contested elections to the Union of South Africa parliament from the 1910 South African general election until its merger into the South African Party just before the 1921 South African general...

  •  Syria
  • Arab Socialist Unionist Movement
  • Socialist Unionist Democratic Party
  • Unionist Socialist Party
  •  Tunisia
  • Unionist Democratic Union
    Unionist Democratic Union
    The Unionist Democratic Union is an opposition political party in Tunisia. It has a pan-Arabist ideology, and holds nine seats in the Chamber of Deputies, making it the fourth-largest party....

  •  Yemen
  • Nasserite Unionist Party

  • See also

    • Unionism (disambiguation)
    • Unionist (disambiguation)
    • Separatism
      Separatism
      Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...

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