Category Archives: Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)

Ex-TV news presenter Mike Nesbitt to return as Ulster Unionists’ leader

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Health minister at Stormont was sole candidate to replace Doug Beattie when nominations closed

The former television news presenter Mike Nesbitt is to become the leader of the Ulster Unionist party for the second time, succeeding Doug Beattie who quit last week.

Nesbitt, 67, who led the UUP between 2012 and 2017, was the only declared candidate when nominations closed on Friday evening. He is expected to be formally ratified as leader at an extraordinary general meeting of the party on 14 September.

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Northern Ireland power sharing slips to 2023 as few relish a winter election

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Delay to protocol resolution likely to pause Stormont elections that were expected this year

The UK has given a six-month deadline for the Northern Ireland protocol row to be resolved, indicating Liz Truss is far more relaxed about the absence of a devolved government in Stormont than previously indicated.

An April 2023 date for the resolution of the Brexit row emerged after a meeting between the prime minister and the US president, Joe Biden, and would coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday agreement.

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‘His legacy will endure’: tributes paid to David Trimble

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Death of Northern Ireland’s inaugural first minister inspires rare solidarity as role in ending the Troubles is hailed

David Trimble has accomplished in death a feat that eluded him in life: he has united Northern Ireland unionists, with one leader after another lining up to laud him.

The region’s inaugural first minister inspired a rare solidarity across the fractured ranks of unionism on Tuesday when even his bitterest foes paid tribute to his role in ending the Troubles.

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Northern Ireland first minister resigns over Brexit checks on goods

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Paul Givan’s move triggers parallel departure of deputy first minister and could bring forward elections

The first minister of Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist party’s Paul Givan, has resigned, plunging the devolved government at Stormont into turmoil two years after power-sharing with Sinn Féin was restored.

His resignation, over Brexit checks in the Irish Sea, will also bring the parallel departure of the Sinn Féin deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill, under the power-sharing arrangements.

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The young loyalist who dared contemplate the idea of a ‘new’, united, Ireland

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Activist Joel Keys says unionism would benefit from confronting, not avoiding, the things it finds most difficult

He was the teenage supermarket worker who shocked MPs examining loyalist anger in Northern Ireland by claiming that sometimes violence “was the only tool you have left”. Joel Keys left the committee chair, Tory MP Simon Hoare, “chilled and appalled” and he faced a media backlash.

Six months on Keys, now 20, has not disappeared into oblivion after his 15 minutes of fame. Nor has he abandoned his position on violence. He has ambitions to become a local politician representing young loyalist communities that he describes as “goldmines” left behind by unionist parties and education leaders.

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DUP’s Arlene Foster rules out seeking Westminster seat

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Moves follows speculation Northern Irish party leader could stand in snap election

Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist party, has ruled out standing as an MP if a general election is called.

She is currently an MLA – member of the legislative assembly – at Stormont but the seat of Northern Ireland’s devolved government has been suspended since 2017 after the collapse of a power-sharing deal between the DUP and Sinn Féin.

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