| Progressive Unionist Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Billy Hutchinson |
| Chairman | Brian Lacey |
| Founded | 1979 |
| Headquarters | 299 Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 1AG, County Antrim, Northern Ireland |
| Ideology | British unionism Democratic socialism[1][2] Social democracy |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Official colours | Red & blue |
| Northern Irish seats in the House of Commons |
0 / 18
|
| European Parliament (Northern Irish seats) |
0 / 3
|
| Northern Ireland Assembly |
0 / 108
|
| Local government in Northern Ireland |
2 / 582
|
| Website | |
| www.progressiveunionistparty.org | |
| Politics of Northern Ireland Political parties Elections |
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The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) 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. Linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), it is the left-wing party of unionism in Northern Ireland, with its main support base in the loyalist working-class communities of Belfast.[3]
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The party has had a degree of electoral success. In 1994 PUP leader Hugh Smyth became Lord Mayor of Belfast, and in the 1996 elections to the Northern Ireland Forum they secured two seats, with Smyth and David Ervine both being elected. The PUP supported the Belfast Agreement and in the 1998 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly they also won two seats, with representatives Billy Hutchinson and David Ervine elected from the Belfast North and East constituencies respectively, though they proceeded to lose one in the 2003 election, leaving Ervine as their sole Assembly representative. This was followed by a poor showing in the Northern Ireland local election of 2005, where Smyth and Ervine were their only two members to retain their seats on local authorities, and the party now seems to be in a state of decline.
Their position on the left of the political spectrum differentiates them from the other unionist parties (such as the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party) which are ideologically conservative.
Following an intra-loyalist feud between the UVF and Loyalist Volunteer Force, in which four men were murdered by the UVF in Belfast, after which recognition of the UVF's ceasefire was withdrawn by the British government, the PUP debated ending its "special relationship" with the UVF but this was defeated in a closed vote at the party's annual conference in October 2005.
In March 2006, the Chairman of the PUP, Dawn Purvis, a research associate at the University of Ulster was appointed as an independent member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
David Ervine died following a heart attack on 8 January 2007. On 22 January 2007 Dawn Purvis was chosen as party leader.[4] She is the first woman to lead a unionist party in Northern Ireland. Dr John Kyle was co-opted on to Belfast City Council to fill Ervine's seat. The party did not field any candidates for the 2010 general elections although Dawn Purvis and other party members canvassed for the successful Alliance Party candidate Naomi Long.
The election was for 108 seats spread evenly across 18 constituencies.
The PUP fielded 3 candidates: Elaine Martin in North Down, Andrew Park in Belfast South and Dawn Purvis in Belfast East. Overall the party polled 3,822 votes or 0.6% of the votes cast in Northern Ireland, down 0.6% from the Elections of 2003.
Dawn Purvis was elected to represent Belfast East polling 3,045 votes (10.3%), finishing 5th out of the 15 candidates.
On 3 May 2007 Gusty Spence read out the statement by the Ulster Volunteer Force announcing it will keep its weapons and a warning that activities could "provoke another generation of loyalists toward armed resistance".
However, the arms decommissioning body has said this did not meet the requirements set out in government legislation. The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) urged the UVF to work with it to destroy its weaponry.
It said it welcomed the statement, but was "concerned by their intention to deal with their arms without the involvement of the IICD".
In 2009 the UVF fully decommissioned all their weapons under the supervision of the IICD.
In June 2010, Dawn Purvis resigned as leader, and as a member, of the party because of its relationship with the UVF and a recent murder attributed to that group.[5] On the 28th of August the deputy leader, David Rose, resigned from the party. He cited the recent murder attributed to the UVF and his belief that the party was "becoming increasingly conservative in outlook.[6]
During a meeting in Belfast on the 29th of September 2010, members of the party agreed to maintain its relationship with the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando.
The election was for 108 seats spread evenly across 18 constituencies. The party failed to regain the East Belfast seat and are unrepresented in the Assembly. Leader Brian Ervine resigned soon after the election and was replaced by veteran west Belfast activist Billy Hutchinson in October 2011.[7]
Former UVF member Billy Giles, whose biography is told in the first chapter of journalist Peter Taylor's book Loyalists, having spent 14 years in the Maze Prison for a sectarian killing, was part of PUP's negotiating team at the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998.[8] Others involved in this process included Billy Mitchell, Winston Churchill Rea and William "Plum" Smyth, all former UVF members.
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