Ulster Conservatives and Unionists

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
(Redirected from UCUNF)
Jump to: navigation, search
Ulster Conservatives and Unionists
Ulster Unionist Leader Sir Reg Empey MLA (2009-10)
Tom Elliott MLA (2010-12)
Conservative Leader David Cameron MP (2009-12)
Founded 2009
Dissolved 2012
Ideology Unionism
Conservatism
Soft euroscepticism
Political position Centre-right
National affiliation Ulster Unionist Party
Conservative Party
International affiliation International Democrat Union
European Parliament group European Conservatives and Reformists
Colours Blue, Green
Website
http://www.voteforchangeni.com/
Politics of Northern Ireland
Political parties
Elections

The Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, officially registered as the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force (UCUNF), was a bipartisan electoral alliance in Northern Ireland between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Northern Ireland branch of the Conservative Party in 2009 and 2010, the latter party also being active throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. There is no formally constituted group with this name; instead, the name was a registered description of the UUP[1] and of the Conservative Party.[2] The two parties separated in 2012.[3]

2009 European Parliament campaign

The alliance was launched in 2009 though the Vice-Chairman of Conservatives NI, Jeffrey Peel, resigned from the Joint Committee created by both parties.[4]

Conservatives and Unionists candidates were first selected for the 2009 European Parliament election, and will also be used for general elections to the UK House of Commons in Northern Ireland.[5] The first candidate to stand for election using this description was Ulster Unionist Jim Nicholson in the 2009 European Parliament election.[6] He polled 82,893 votes, 17.0% of the total, and was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

2010 UK general election campaign

File:Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force Logo.jpg
Banner from the 2010 UK general election campaign, showing joint use by the Conservative Party and Ulster Unionist Party of the "Vote For Change" slogan.

On 24 February 2010, the alliance announced 9 of the 18 candidates who were to run in the 2010 United Kingdom general election.[7] The UUP's sole Member of Parliament (MP) from the 2005 general election, Sylvia, Lady Hermon for North Down, had expressed public dissatisfaction with the arrangement since early in 2009,[8] and left the UUP in March 2010, deciding to contest the forthcoming general election as an Independent.[9] As such, the alliance had no incumbent MPs. On 7 April 2010 the candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Tom Elliott, withdrew in favour of Independent Rodney Connor, leaving that constituency without a UCUNF candidate.[10]

The Conservative & UUP alliance failed to gain any seats in the election. The UUP lost their only seat in North Down to Sylvia Hermon's independent campaign, and Connor also lost Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Across Northern Ireland, the joint share of the vote was 15.2%.

End of the alliance

After failed calls for the UUP to disband and join the Conservatives, on 14 June 2012 the Conservatives in NI were relaunched as 'NI Conservatives'.[11]

Footnotes

  1. [1]
  2. [2]
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Hermon: why she rejected Tory deal Belfast Telegraph, 14 May 2009
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links