Editing Ulster Unionist Party (section)

===Empey leadership===
In May 2006 UUP leader Empey attempted to create a new assembly group that would have included [[Progressive Unionist Party]] (PUP) leader [[David Ervine]]. The PUP is the political wing of the illegal [[Ulster Volunteer Force]] (UVF).<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4244082.stm | work=BBC News | title=What is the UVF? | date=14 September 2005 | access-date=9 April 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222150309/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4244082.stm | archive-date=22 December 2006 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,,1985671,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=David Ervine | first=Henry | last=McDonald | date=8 January 2007 | access-date=9 April 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119230756/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,,1985671,00.html | archive-date=19 January 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/ulster/article301681.ece | title=Feuding loyalists bring the fear back to Belfast | work=The Independent | first=David | last=McKittrick | date=26 July 2005 | access-date=9 April 2010 | location=London | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051215162524/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/ulster/article301681.ece | archive-date=15 December 2005 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Many in the UUP, including the last remaining MP, [[Sylvia Hermon]], were opposed to the move.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4772777.stm |work=BBC News |title=Row as Ervine joins UUP grouping |date=15 May 2006 |access-date=9 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308074312/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4772777.stm |archive-date=8 March 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4990810.stm | work=BBC News | title=MP 'distressed' over Ervine move | date=17 May 2006 | access-date=9 April 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308074308/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4990810.stm | archive-date=8 March 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> The link was in the form of a new group called the 'Ulster Unionist Party Assembly Group' whose membership was the 24 UUP MLAs and Ervine. Empey justified the link by stating that under the [[d'Hondt method]] for allocating ministers in the Assembly, the new group would take a seat in the Executive from Sinn Féin.

Following a request for a ruling from the DUP's [[Peter Robinson (Northern Ireland politician)|Peter Robinson]], the Speaker ruled that the UUPAG was not a political party within the meaning of the [[Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5335004.stm | work=BBC News | title=UUP-PUP link 'against the rules' | date=11 September 2006 | access-date=9 April 2010}}</ref>

The party lost 9 seats in the [[2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election]], retaining 18 MLAs.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6435755.stm DUP top in NI assembly election] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321053752/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6435755.stm |date=21 March 2007 }}, ''[[BBC News Online]]'', 12 March 2007.</ref> Empey was the only leader of one of the four main parties not to be re-elected on first preference votes alone in the Assembly elections of March 2007.

In July 2008, the UUP and Conservative Party announced that a joint working group had been established to examine closer ties. On 26 February 2009, the Ulster Unionist Executive and area council of Northern Ireland Conservatives agreed to field joint candidates in future elections to the House of Commons and European Parliament under the name "[[Ulster Conservatives and Unionists|Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force]]" (UCUNF). The agreement meant that Ulster Unionist MPs could have sat in a Conservative Government, renewing the relationship that had broken down in 1974 over the [[Sunningdale Agreement]] and in 1985 over the [[Anglo-Irish Agreement]].<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7913967.stm | work=BBC News | title=Lady Hermon under 'no pressure' | date=27 February 2009 | access-date=27 March 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302084626/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7913967.stm | archive-date=2 March 2009 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Profile: Jim Nicholson | work = [[BBC News Online]] | date = 12 May 2009 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8039722.stm | access-date = 30 May 2009 | first = Mark | last = Devenport | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150205152548/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8039722.stm | archive-date = 5 February 2015 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/2450913/David-Cameron-launches-biggest-Conservative-shake-up-for-decades.html David Cameron launches biggest Conservative shake-up for decades] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223001413/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/2450913/David-Cameron-launches-biggest-Conservative-shake-up-for-decades.html |date=23 February 2011 }} ''The Daily Telegraph'' (London), 23 July 2008.</ref> The UUP's sole remaining MP at the time, Sylvia Hermon, opposed the agreement, stating she would not be willing to stand under the UCUNF banner.<ref>[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/hermon-why-she-rejected-tory-deal-14300527.html Hermon: why she rejected Tory deal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100511130812/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/hermon-why-she-rejected-tory-deal-14300527.html |date=11 May 2010 }} ''Belfast Telegraph'', 14 May 2009.</ref>

In February 2010, Hermon confirmed that she would not be seeking a nomination as a UCUNF candidate for the forthcoming general election.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8529052.stm UUP MP Lady Sylvia Hermon rejects UCUNF candidacy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227022559/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8529052.stm |date=27 February 2010 }} BBC News, 23 February 2010.</ref> On 25 March 2010, she formally resigned from the party and announced that she would be standing as an independent candidate at the general election.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8586845.stm MP Lady Sylvia Hermon quits Ulster Unionists] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328171620/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8586845.stm |date=28 March 2010 }} BBC News, 25 March 2010.</ref> As a result, the UUP were left without representation in the House of Commons for the first time since the party's creation. At the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]], UCUNF won no seats in Northern Ireland (while Hermon won hers as an independent). The UCUNF label was not used again.