The Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, officially registered as the ''Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force'' (''UCUNF''), was an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

between the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...

(UUP) and the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

2009 European Parliament campaign

The alliance was launched in 2009. Conservatives and Unionists candidates were first selected for the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

. The first candidate to stand for election using this description was Ulster Unionist Jim Nicholson, who polled 82,893 votes, 17.0% of the total, and was elected as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP).

2010 UK general election campaign

On 24 February 2010, the alliance announced 9 of the 18 candidates who were to run in the

2010 United Kingdom general election The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom und ...

. 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 2009, and left the UUP in March 2010, deciding to contest the forthcoming general election as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

. As such, the alliance had no incumbent MPs. On 7 April 2010 the candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone,

Tom Elliott Thomas or Tom Elliott may refer to: * Thomas Elliott (footballer) (1890–?), English footballer * Thomas Elliott (Australian cricketer) (1879–1939), Australian cricketer * Thomas Elliott (New Zealand cricketer) (1867–?), New Zealand cricket ...

, withdrew in favour of

Rodney Connor Rodney Connor (born 25 March 1951) is a retired Chief Executive of Fermanagh District Council in Northern Ireland and was a candidate for political office. 2000s In 2000, Connor was appointed as Chief Executive of Fermanagh District Council. I ...

, leaving that constituency without a Unionist Party candidate. The Conservative and UUP alliance failed to gain any seats in the election. The UUP lost their only seat in North Down to 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, the Conservatives in Northern Ireland were relaunched as

NI Conservatives The Northern Ireland Conservatives is a section of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party that operates in Northern Ireland. The party won 0.03% of the vote in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election and 0.7% of the vote in the 2019 United ...

on 14 June 2012.

Electoral results

European Parliament

Westminster

Stormont

Footnotes

External links

Vote for Change – Conservatives and Unionists
{{UK Conservative Party 2009 establishments in Northern Ireland Conservative parties in Ireland Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland Defunct political party alliances in the United Kingdom History of the Conservative Party (UK) Organisation of the Conservative Party (UK) Political parties established in 2009 Political party alliances in Ireland Politics of Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party