Editing Ulster Defence Association (section)

== Politics ==
[[File:Ulster Nationalist flag.png|alt=|thumb|Some UDA leaders supported an independent Northern Ireland in the mid–late 1970s.]]
In the 1970s the group favoured [[Northern Ireland independence]], but they have retreated from this position.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scottishloyalists.co.uk/paramilitaries/uda.htm |title=Ulster Defence Association |publisher=Scottishloyalists.co.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=24 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524130101/http://www.scottishloyalists.co.uk/paramilitaries/uda.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[New Ulster Political Research Group]] (NUPRG) was initially the political wing of the UDA, founded in 1978, which then evolved into the [[Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party]] in 1981 under the leadership of [[John McMichael]], a prominent UDA member killed by the IRA in 1987, amid suspicion that he was set up to be killed by some of his UDA colleagues.

In 1987, the UDA's deputy commander John McMichael (who was then the leader of the UFF) promoted a document entitled ''Common Sense'', which promoted a consensual end to the conflict in Northern Ireland, while maintaining the Union. The document advocated a power-sharing assembly involving both nationalists and unionists, an agreed constitution and new Bill of Rights. It is not clear, however, whether this programme was adopted by the UDA as their official policy.<ref name="OBrien_91"/> However, the killing of McMichael that same year and the subsequent removal of Tyrie from the leadership and his replacement with an Inner Council saw the UDA concentrate on stockpiling weapons rather than political ideas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm#uda |title=UDA |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=22 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222030139/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm#uda |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1989, the ULDP changed its name to the [[Ulster Democratic Party]] (UDP). It finally dissolved itself in 2001 following very limited electoral success and internal difficulties. [[Gary McMichael]], son of John McMichael, was the last leader of the UDP, which supported the signing of the [[Good Friday Agreement]]. The [[Ulster Political Research Group]] (UPRG) was subsequently formed to give political analysis to the UDA and act as community workers in loyalist areas. It is currently represented on the [[Belfast City Council]].

In early January 1994, the UDA released a document calling for [[ethnic cleansing]] and [[repartition of Ireland|repartition]], with the goal of making a new Northern Ireland which would have been wholly Protestant.<ref name="Wood 184-185">Wood, Ian S. ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Pages 184–185.</ref> The plan was to be implemented should the British Army withdraw from Northern Ireland. Areas in the south and west with strong Catholic/nationalist majorities would be handed over to the Republic, and those Catholics left stranded in the "Protestant state" would be "expelled, nullified, or interned".<ref name="Wood 184-185"/> The story was printed in ''[[Sunday Independent (Ireland)|The Sunday Independent]]'' newspaper on 16 January.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |title=CAIN |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=2 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102135434/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The "doomsday plan" was based on the work of Dr [[Liam Kennedy (historian)|Liam Kennedy]], a lecturer at [[Queen's University Belfast]]<ref name="Wood 184-185"/> who in 1986 had published a book called ''Two Ulsters: A Case for Repartition'', although it did not call for ethnic cleansing. The UDP's Raymond Smallwoods said "I wasn't consulted but the scenario set out is a perfectly plausible one".<ref name="Wood 184-185"/> The DUP's [[Sammy Wilson (politician)|Sammy Wilson]] stated that the plan "shows that some loyalist paramilitaries are looking ahead and contemplating what needs to be done to maintain our separate Ulster identity"<ref name="Wood 184-185"/>