Northern Ireland Assembly
The UUC was formed by three members of the Northern Ireland Assembly who had been elected as "independent unionists" in 1998, and decided to form themselves into an official grouping to avail of facilities provided by the Assembly to parties. As such they were more a coalition of political expediency rather than a coherent political party. The founders of the group, which was initially called the "United Unionist Assembly Party", were Fraser Agnew, Boyd Douglas and Denis Watson (all of whom have since left the grouping).
The grouping subsequently registered with the Electoral Commission as the "United Unionist Coalition", a name recalling the anti-Sunningdale Agreement bloc of Unionist parties in the 1970s, the United Ulster Unionist Coalition.
Watson subsequently joined the Democratic Unionist Party. In the 2003 Assembly elections the UUC secured only 0.4% of first preference votes and all three UUC members lost their seats. The UUC did not contest the 2007 or 2011 Assembly elections.
Read more about this topic: United Unionist Coalition
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