NI21
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NI21
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|---|---|
 |
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| Leader | Basil McCrea |
| Chairman | Olive Buckley |
| Deputy Leader | Vacant (from January 2016) |
| Founded | 6 June 2013 |
| Dissolved | November 2016 |
| Headquarters | 19 Market Street, Dromore BT21 1AW |
| Youth wing | NI21: Northern Ireland's Future Group Wing |
| Ideology |
Ulster unionism Progressivism Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | centre-right |
| Colours | Teal, Green, Blue |
| Website | |
| www.ni21.com | |
NI21 was a political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 2013 by ex-Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Basil McCrea and John McCallister. Although it explicitly supported Northern Ireland staying part of the United Kingdom (i.e. unionism), it planned to designate as "other" rather than "unionist" in future Stormont elections. It presented itself as a "cross-community party" and promoted a Northern Irish national identity for the 21st century.
As of November 2016 following its failure to renew its registration with the Electoral Commission it has effectively ceased to exist.
The party was founded by McCrea and McCallister several months after their resignation from the UUP over what they saw as a plan towards merging the UUP with the Democratic Unionist Party in the choosing of a joint-unionist candidate (Nigel Lutton) for the Mid Ulster by-election of 2013. The two had been unsuccessfully courted by the NI Conservatives. Also involved in the new party was David Rose, a former Northern Ireland Policing Board member and former deputy leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, who left that party in 2010.
The party was officially founded on 6 June 2013 with a livestreamed press conference in the Metropolitan Arts Centre in Belfast. Its name referred to the 21st century, putting itself forward as a "modern party".
NI21 took a pro-Union stance on the constitutional issue, although it made an effort to try to appeal to all sides of the community, the party describing itself as a "confident, generous and progressive pro-UK party". It was claimed that the party represented moderate political views, including left of centre voters. It was stated that NI21 would attempt to form an official opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly, which would have been the first official opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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