Northern Ireland has five main political parties — Sinn Fein, the DUP, Alliance, the UUP and the SDLP — though only four of them sit in the Executive.
However, just like other political parties in other countries across the world, there are smaller political parties, and just like in other countries, these parties are being taken a lot more seriously now than they may have been regarded previously.
In today’s blog, I’m going to go through all of Northern Ireland’s smaller political parties and explain what they believe in simply, just in case you don’t fancy voting for any of the big dogs.
The TUV was formed in December 2007, and are a Loyalist Party, which was founded by their current leader, Jim Allister.
They are opposed to the Good Friday / Belfast Agreement — which they view as a betrayal by the British government of the Unionist cause, in regards that it lets those who it calls “unrepentant terrorists” to sit at the heart of government.
Through this, they have until recently been opposed to the DUP — who they hold accountable for “sacrificing their principles” and agreeing to go into power sharing with Sinn Féin — and also oppose the UUP — who they basically view as being to blame for all the rubbish we’ve had since 1998.
Turning to their opinions on other issues however, they are opposed to the Irish Language Act, which they described in 2009 on their website as “Leprechaun Language”, but they did later remove it.
They fundamentally placed themselves in opposition to the Gay Marriage / Abortion Reform, and called for the DUP to force the government to back down on gay marriage and abortion reforms in July 2019.
They view the 2020 Brexit Deal as a betrayal of the Act of Union and their main political view is that the Northern Ireland Protocol should be scrapped.
However, something they do say they would like to get sorted if they ever had a higher amount of power in Stormont one day is to fix the issues Working Class/Poorer Protestant boys face that stop them from achieving better results when it comes to their education. Countless reports since the early 2000s have found that Working Class Protestant boys underachieve when it comes to education.
In relation to global conflicts, the TUV condemns the UK’s recognition of a Palestinian state, regarding it as a “reward for terrorism” that validates Hamas — which many will agree or disagree with them on. They have also used the Ukraine conflict to highlight their opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
So to summarise what the TUV is:
The Progressive Unionist Party — or as they are known, ‘the PUP’ — are a political party that was founded in 1979 to represent working class loyalists, and who’s sole commitment is strengthening Northern Ireland’s political marriage with Great Britain in the UK. Their original founding leader was the late David Ervine, who demanded a place at the negotiating table during the Peace Process. To many people’s surprise he was a great politician who won respect across the political divide. His untimely death left everyone stunned, although his sister-in-law, Linda, has come to prominence recently as an advocate for Irish Language schools in the heart of Loyalism. Under Ervine the PUP were a real threat to the DUP in the Loyalist heartlands and were taking votes from them.
Billy Hutchinson is the current leader of the PUPs.
They believe in doing this through a cordial Union made up of diverse people from multiple cultures and faiths, as a way of achieving social and political harmony.
Other issues the PUP cares about are on promoting citizenship as part of the United Kingdom, which they believe should draw from a range of cultures and traditions.
They support helping Working Class families — which in fairness to them, other Parties support as well — but are subscribed to the political ideology laid out by them Ulster Covenant in 1912.
As well as this, they also support implementing progressive policies and initiatives that promote supporting full and equal citizenship, entitlements and responsibilities, that will develop the social and economic well being of citizens and religious / political freedoms.
But what positions has the party recently taken regarding political issues?
Well, between late 2021 – early 2022, the PUP faced many of the same problems other Unionist Parties have faced.
In November 2021, the former PUP councillor, John Kyle — who has since jumped over to the UUP — said that there could be advantages to the NI Protocol (a few days after his party had previously said there was no bases for Unionists continuing to back the Good Friday Agreement).
As of April 2022, they have been among four political parties attending rallies to collapse the Northern Ireland Protocol, and have been critical of other Unionists for not attending.
It can therefore be believed that they are in support of keeping the Executive down until the Protocol is abandoned.
Their opinions on the other political issues mentioned in this blog have historically differed as well.
Their views on current conflicts aren’t currently known.
So to Summarise what the PUP is:
The Green Party of Northern Ireland was founded in the 1980s, and is currently led by Mal O’Harra.
Like many Green Parties around the world, the Green Party of NI wants to see movement on Climate Change legislation.
They support LGBT+, are pro Abortion in certain circumstances, and also support an Irish Language Act.
While some of their members have sympathised with the idea of a United Ireland in the past, they don’t believe it is the right time to consider a Border Poll.
They support Assisted Dying for terminally ill people who have the mental capacity to decide, but they don’t offer any other information on safeguards such as whether or not people should have to wait 18 months before making a final decision or whether doctors should be sued for denying a person’s choice or trying to convince them otherwise etc.
They are also in support of creating fair employment, a fair education system and a fair health system.
People Before Profit is a socialist party founded in October 2005, and which has started building momentum in Northern Ireland throughout the last couple of years. And while they would generally like to see all of Ireland under one political system, they would like it to come about in a way that generally works for everyone.
They would like to see an agriculture policy that promotes the establishment of small local processors, and of cooperative farm ownership, among others.
When it comes to Brexit and the current circumstances that surrounds it, People Before Profit has always rejected what it sees as the DUP’s attempt to use the Protocol for sectarian electioneering, and are against any attempts to recreate a hard border on the island of Ireland. Furthermore, They are also against any moves to weaken economic links between Northern and Southern Ireland, and also oppose the neoliberalism and imperialism that they see coming from London and Brussels.
While they are anti-war and published a pamphlet in May 2025 about defending Irish Neutrality, they are very much Pro-Palestinian, which they have received a lot of support but also criticism for. After the 7th October attack, their Leader and only MLA, Gerry Carroll, posted “Victory to the Palestinian Resistance” on X, and the party has since suggested that to fully understand the Israeli-Palestine conflict, you have to understand what happened on the days that led up to 7th October 2023.
More recently in 2025, they have also been behind a no-confidence motion in Northern Ireland’s Education Minister, Paul Givan, after the Minister — along with other politicians — went on a trip to Israel that was paid for by the Israeli government, though others may argue that it’s therefore ironic that Colum Eastwood wasn’t criticised for his trip to Palestine during the same period.
And in relation to the other big conflict of the modern day, Russia and Ukraine, they do condemn Russia’s full scale invasion. However, they claim it’s a “blatant double standard” that the West is united on Ukraine but won’t do the same when it comes to Palestine, which some will agree with, but others may argue that they aren’t the same situation, which you can either agree or disagree with.
So to summarise what People Before Profit is:
But even with the number of parties we do have a choice over, some people choose not to identify with any of them.
And that’s when the Northern Ireland Independents come in.
An Independent can have any belief set they want, but what they all have in common is that they don’t belong to any of the parties.
But unlike other Independent candidates from other countries around the world, we have had quite a number of Independent candidates who have been very successful and taken on impressive roles within the government, so they can still be influential. With our system of Proportional Representation, a popular local candidate stands a good chance of election. Unlike the first past the post system for the Westminster elections.
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