The Ulster Independence Movement was an

Ulster nationalist Ulster nationalism is a minor school of thought in the politics of Northern Ireland that seeks the independence of Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom without joining the Republic of Ireland, thereby becoming an independent sovereign s ...

political party founded (as the Ulster Independence Committee) on 17 November 1988. The group emerged from the Ulster Clubs, after a series of 15 public meetings across Northern Ireland. Led by Hugh Ross, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

minister from

Dungannon Dungannon () is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 14,340 at the 2011 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in th ...

, County Tyrone, the UIC sought to end what it saw as the tyranny of rule from London (and potentially

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

) and instead set up an independent

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

Early development

The UIC initially had a network of 11 branches and first entered the political arena in 1990 when Ross stood in a by-election for the Upper Bann constituency following the death of sitting MP

Harold McCusker James Harold McCusker (7 February 1940 – 12 February 1990) was a Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party politician who served as the Deputy Leader of the UUP Assembly Group from 1982 to 1986. Early life The younger son of Jim and Lily McCu ...

. Finishing as fourth out of eleven candidates with 1534 votes (4.3%) (and ahead of the

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. As of the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it is the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assemb ...

candidate), the result indicated to the UIC that there was potential for an

party. The Committee reconstituted itself in 1994 as a full political party (largely as a reaction to the

Downing Street Declaration Downing may refer to: Places * Downing, Missouri, US, a city * Downing, Wisconsin, US, a village * Downing Park (Newburgh, New York), US, a public park * Downing, Flintshire, Wales Buildings * Downing Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Aust ...

), changing its name to the UIM and putting forward Ross as a candidate in the 1994 elections to the European Parliament (one of three pro-independence candidates to stand). Ross proved the most successful of the three, gaining 7,858 first preference votes (a 1.4% share) and retained his deposit. In the aftermath of this election a general meeting of pro-independence groups and individuals was organised by Ross after overtures were sent out to David Kerr, Robert Mooney (the other two Ulster nationalist candidates in the European election) and the Ballymena-based Ulster Party. Mooney did not turn up but Kerr and Agnes McLeister of the Ulster Party agreed to pool resources and join forces with Ross' movement.

1996 Forum election

Buoyed by the relative success of the previous election and the influx of new affiliates, the UIM put up 40 candidates in 18 seats in the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

elections of 1996, its most high-profile election campaign. With every seat contested as well as the regional list (which was headed by Ross) Kerr was placed as a candidate in North Belfast1996 Forum Elections: Candidates in North Belfast
/ref> with McLeister in North Antrim, whilst other candidates who had or would go on to have a higher profile included

Willie Frazer William Frederick Frazer (8 July 1960 – 28 June 2019) was a Northern Irish Ulster loyalist activist and advocate for those affected by Irish republican violence in Northern Ireland. He was the founder and leader of the pressure group Families ...

in Newry and Armagh (who subsequently organised

Families Acting for Innocent Relatives Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1998 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Based in Markethill, it describes itself as a "non-sectarian, non-political organisation" that works "in the inte ...

and

Love Ulster Love Ulster was a campaign conducted in Northern Ireland in 2005–08. Acting on the behalf of unionist victims of the Troubles, it was organised by the County Armagh Protestant group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR), led by Willie F ...

) and Kenny McClinton and Clifford Peeples in West Belfast1996 Forum Elections: Candidates in West Belfast
/ref> (a pastor who was later jailed for possession of explosives). Despite this higher profile campaign the UIM's vote dropped as parties directly associated with loyalist paramilitary groups, such as the

Ulster Democratic Party The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) was a small loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), to replace the New Ulster Political Res ...

and

Progressive Unionist Party The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor 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 Volunt ...

, began to win votes. Alongside this, the party was still not the only Ulster nationalist option, and finished behind Ulster's Independent Voice in North Belfast and Strangford, whilst beating them in West Belfast and tying exactly with them in North Down. The UIM polled 2125 votes (0.3%) across Northern Ireland and no representation was secured.

Results

Subsequent activity

Party activity continued after the signing of the

Belfast Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in Nor ...

, with the UIM playing a role in the unsuccessful 'No' campaign against it. The party fielded two candidates in the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = ...

of 1998 but failed to win a seat. Seeing their chances becoming increasingly diminished, the UIM formally abandoned their role as a political party in January 2000 and instead reconstituted as a '

ginger group The Ginger Group was not a formal political party in Canada, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour Members of Parliament who advocated socialism. The term ginger group also refers to a small group with new, radical ideas trying to ac ...

'.Abstracts on Organisations – 'U'
from

Conflict Archive on the Internet CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) is a database containing information about Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present. The project began in 1996, with the website launching in 1997. The project is based within U ...

This came in the wake of a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

programme, "The Committee", which alleged links between the UIM and loyalist killings, allegations that damaged their credibility and saw a number of members leave the group. The UIM is all but dead now, even as a think tank, although some of its former members have continued as members of the

Ulster Third Way The Ulster Third Way was the Northern Ireland branch of the Third Way and was organised by David Kerr, who had previously campaigned as an 'independent Unionist' (chairing the small North Belfast Independent Unionist Association) as well as f ...

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland Political parties established in 1988 Political parties disestablished in 2000 Ulster nationalist parties 1988 establishments in Northern Ireland