Traditional Unionist Voice
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties, the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom. A founding precept of the party is that "nothing which is morally wrong can be politically right".[6]
Traditional Unionist Voice
TUV
Keith Ratcliffe
Ron McDowell
7 December 2007
38 Henry Street, Ballymena, Northern Ireland
Blue (primarily), red and white
The TUV was formed in December 2007 by Jim Allister after he and others had resigned from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in March of that year.[7] At the time of his resignation, Allister was a prominent figure in the DUP and held the position of Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the party having been elected to the European Parliament in 2004. The reason for the split was DUP leader Ian Paisley's March 2007 consent to the St Andrews Agreement and his willingness to become First Minister of Northern Ireland alongside a deputy First Minister from the Irish Republican party Sinn Féin.[8]
Prior to the St Andrews Agreement, the DUP had presented itself as an 'anti-Agreement' unionist party[9] opposed to numerous aspects of the Good Friday Agreement e.g. the release of paramilitary prisoners before the end of their jail sentences and the participation of Sinn Féin in the Northern Ireland government without complete decommissioning of IRA weapons and cessation of all IRA activity. The TUV has been an exception among Northern Irish unionist parties in consistently opposing the presence of Sinn Féin in the Northern Ireland government.[10] After Allister's resignation from the DUP, he continued to occupy his European Parliament seat, sitting as an Independent MEP until the following European election in 2009 when he was not re-elected.
In terms of both electoral success and financial income,[11] Traditional Unionist Voice is the third largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, behind the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). It is usually considered by political commentators to be a small party and characterised as being more hardline than other Northern Irish unionist parties.[12]
Since 2011, the TUV has occupied one seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The party also holds a small number of seats on local councils. Its most prominent elected representative and best-known figure remains Jim Allister whose North Antrim constituency is the heartland of the party.
Since 2008, the party President has been former East Londonderry Westminster MP William Ross.
In March 2024, the party formed an electoral pact with Reform UK, stating that the two parties would stand mutually agreed candidates in Northern Ireland constituencies in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.[13]
Controversies[edit]
In November 2009 the TUV issued a press release whose title included the phrase "leprechaun language" in reference to the Irish language. The press release's content censured the Northern Ireland Department of Education for an annual increase of 350% in spending on translation from English into the Irish language (the total sum spent on translation was £47,000, according to the party). Although the press release was issued under the name of the then TUV vice-chairman Keith Harbinson, he insisted that the phrase was not his own but had instead been added by another, unnamed, employee of the party. When eventually published on the TUV website, the phrase was removed from the title and both Harbinson and the TUV apologised to their critics for its use.[65]
In December 2009, TUV member Trevor Collins organised a petition to release former Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) member Torrens Knight from prison, where he was serving a sentence for assaulting two women. Knight had previously served seven years imprisonment for taking part in the Greysteel massacre and Castlerock killings, but had been released early (in 2000) under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Because of his new conviction, the early release licence for his terrorist crimes was suspended. The TUV distanced itself from the petition, but was criticised for refusing to take action against Collins. Jim Allister replied that Collins had "acted in a misguided fashion" but said "there are people released from jail who were convicted of crimes in which people died and today they sit in our government".[66]
In November 2012, Ballymena Borough TUV councillor and former player for the Ireland national rugby union team, Davy Tweed, was convicted of child sexual abuse between 1988 and 1995. Pending sentencing, he remained a TUV councillor.[67] TUV stated that the sex offences related "to a period long before he was a member of this party".[68] In January 2013, Tweed was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. TUV chose one of its unsuccessful 2011 candidates, Timothy Gaston, to replace Tweed as councillor.[69] Tweed's conviction was overturned in 2016 after a challenge by his lawyers on grounds that there were "flaws in how bad character evidence was put before the jury".[70]
In 2014, Jolene Bunting became the first TUV councillor elected to Belfast City Council. It was then reported that she had posted sectarian "rants" against Catholics in 2011–2012. Bunting apologised for the online comments. She said that she did not regret their content, but regretted how they were written.[71] In 2017, Bunting resigned from the TUV, claiming that party officials would not allow her to stand again for the party in North Belfast because of these past sectarian posts. The TUV issued a statement saying that to give its candidates the "best chance of success" the party must "take tough decisions". Bunting remained on Belfast City Council as an independent member until the 2019 Belfast City Council election when, standing this time as an independent candidate, she received 3% of first preference votes and was not re-elected to the council.[72]
In August 2021, the TUV defended its Assembly candidate for East Belfast, John Ross, who was criticised by the Bloody Sunday Trust (a registered charity[73]) for comments he made about Bloody Sunday (1972), when fourteen unarmed Catholic civilians were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment. In April 2019, while addressing a protest for British Army veterans, Ross had called Bloody Sunday "a very successful operation" by the paratroopers. The demonstration was part of UK-wide protests against Troubles-related prosecutions of former British soldiers.[74] The chair of the Trust said: "Bloody Sunday has been the subject of a meticulous public inquiry which found that all those killed and wounded were innocent" and asked TUV to re-consider whether Ross was a suitable candidate. The TUV replied that there had been "various conflicting judicial findings" about Bloody Sunday. It also said Ross's words had been taken out of context and that he would remain their candidate.[75]
