Cedric Wilson

Cedric Wilson (born 6 June 1948) is a politician in Northern Ireland.

Born in Belfast, Wilson became the director of a private nursing home. In 1981, he was elected to Castlereagh Borough Council for the Democratic Unionist Party, a post he held until 1989. During this time, he became known for his role in campaigning against the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

At the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1982, Wilson stood unsuccessfully in Belfast South.

In 1996, Wilson he joined the UK Unionist Party (UKUP), and elected to the Northern Ireland Forum under the top-up system in 1996. When the Forum was replaced by the Northern Ireland Assembly, Wilson won a seat in Strangford outright, initially placing third out of twenty-two candidates.

In 1999, Wilson and three of the four other UKUP Assembly members left the party to form the Northern Ireland Unionist Party (NIUP). They argued that they should not quit their Assembly seats should Sinn Féin take up its seats in the without prior Provisional Irish Republican Army decommissioning of weapons. Wilson became the party leader, and in the 2001 UK general election, he contested the Strangford seat, but came bottom of the poll, with only 1.9% of the vote.

This poor showing was reflected in the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2003, when Wilson initially placed only tenth out of thirteen candidates, and all the NIUP members lost their seats.

Wilson remains leader of the NIUP, but the party is currently inactive. Wilson stood as an independent candidate in the Strangford constituency at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007 where he polled 305 votes (0.8%), thus finishing last out of the fifteen candidates.

References

* [http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/biogs/cwilson.htm The Northern Ireland Assembly: Mr Cedric Wilson]
* [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/astr.htm Northern Ireland Elections: Strangford]
* [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/people/biography/wpeople.htm CAIN: Biographies of Prominent People - 'W']