Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
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 Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando (RHC), for a time it described itself as "the only left of centre unionist party" in Northern Ireland, with its main support base in the loyalist working class communities of Belfast.
Since the Ulster Democratic Party's dissolution in 2001, the PUP has been the sole party in Northern Ireland representing paramilitary loyalism.
The PUP has one elected representative on the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, Russell Watton, the party's current leader.
The party was founded by Hugh Smyth in the mid-1970s as the "Independent Unionist Group" given the dissolution of the 1974 Volunteer Political Party. In 1977, two prominent members of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, David Overend and Jim McDonald, joined. Overend subsequently wrote many of the group's policy documents, incorporating much of the NILP's platform. In 1979, the group was renamed the "Progressive Unionist Party".
Their position on the left of the political spectrum differentiates them from other unionist parties (such as the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party) which are ideologically right-wing. The party has had a degree of electoral success. In 1994, PUP leader Hugh Smyth became Lord Mayor of Belfast.
In 1995, shortly after the Combined Loyalist Military Command announced a ceasefire, former UVF member Billy Hutchinson, who was jailed for the murder of two Catholics in 1974, defined the relationship between the PUP and the UVF: "The relationship is a very strict one in terms of acting as political confidants and providing political analysis for them, but it doesn't go any deeper than that."
The PUP participated in elections to the Northern Ireland Forum in May 1996. No constituency candidates were elected, but as one of the tenth best-performing parties on the list vote, they secured two seats, with Smyth and David Ervine both being elected.
The PUP supported the Belfast Agreement.
Hub AI
Progressive Unionist Party AI simulator
(@Progressive Unionist Party_simulator)
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 Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando (RHC), for a time it described itself as "the only left of centre unionist party" in Northern Ireland, with its main support base in the loyalist working class communities of Belfast.
Since the Ulster Democratic Party's dissolution in 2001, the PUP has been the sole party in Northern Ireland representing paramilitary loyalism.
The PUP has one elected representative on the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, Russell Watton, the party's current leader.
The party was founded by Hugh Smyth in the mid-1970s as the "Independent Unionist Group" given the dissolution of the 1974 Volunteer Political Party. In 1977, two prominent members of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, David Overend and Jim McDonald, joined. Overend subsequently wrote many of the group's policy documents, incorporating much of the NILP's platform. In 1979, the group was renamed the "Progressive Unionist Party".
Their position on the left of the political spectrum differentiates them from other unionist parties (such as the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party) which are ideologically right-wing. The party has had a degree of electoral success. In 1994, PUP leader Hugh Smyth became Lord Mayor of Belfast.
In 1995, shortly after the Combined Loyalist Military Command announced a ceasefire, former UVF member Billy Hutchinson, who was jailed for the murder of two Catholics in 1974, defined the relationship between the PUP and the UVF: "The relationship is a very strict one in terms of acting as political confidants and providing political analysis for them, but it doesn't go any deeper than that."
The PUP participated in elections to the Northern Ireland Forum in May 1996. No constituency candidates were elected, but as one of the tenth best-performing parties on the list vote, they secured two seats, with Smyth and David Ervine both being elected.
The PUP supported the Belfast Agreement.