Scottish Unionist Party (modern)
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The Scottish Unionist Party (SUP) is a small political party operating in Scotland. It was formed in the mid 1980s by members of the Scottish Orange Order disillusioned with the then-Conservative government for signing the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Traditionally supportive of the Conservatives, these Orangemen felt that the signing of the treaty giving the Republic of Ireland a role in the government of Northern Ireland was a betrayal of Protestants and decided to form their own party instead.
The SUP is an ideologically Scottish Unionist party which opposes the idea of Scottish independence from the rest of the United Kingdom. It has contested a number of elections, including both the 1999 and 2003 Scottish Parliament elections. In the latter, the SUP contested only the Glasgow, Central Scotland and West of Scotland Additional Members System electoral regions, polling fairly poorly. It also contested only six local council wards in 2003, all located in the west central belt where the traditional "Orange vote" resides. In one Glasgow city centre seat, they achieved a respectable second place comfortably beating the other parties.
The SUP also stood for two seats at the 2001 General Election, in Glasgow Springburn and Airdrie and Shotts. The party managed to retain its deposit in the former, and almost do so in the latter. This was not so surprising in Springburn where there was no Conservative and Unionist candidate (being the Speaker's seat), but in Airdrie and Shotts, despite the presence of a Conservative and Unionist, they still managed to poll 4.5% of the vote.
The SUP campaigns against what it believes are anti-Protestant government policies and opposed moves to try and change the Act of Settlement 1701 which disallows the British monarch from marrying a Catholic. The party is strongly critical of mainstream parties for what it views as a failure to safeguard the Act of Union 1707; this criticism extends even to the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, who they believe are not being 'unionist' enough.
The name is based on that of the Ulster Unionists and other Northern Irish Unionist parties. It is potentially confusing since the Conservatives have traditionally used the title "Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party".
