Four of the members disagreed with UKUP leader Robert McCartney's policy of resigning from the Assembly should Sinn Féin become part of the power-sharing executive.

Cedric Wilson, Patrick Roche, Norman Boyd and Roger Hutchinson disagreed with McCartney, wanting to remain in the Assembly to challenge unionists in favour of the Belfast Agreement.

Led by Wilson, the new party argued that it had the support of the grassroots membership of the UKUP, but McCartney disputed this.

The NIUP opposed the Belfast Agreement and the reformation of the Royal Ulster Constabulary to the Police Service Northern Ireland.

The NIUP consistently had a low level of support and mainly contested the constituencies represented by its four Assembly members.