Possibly due to the OUP (now the Ulster Unionist Party - UUP) being too conservative and the PUP�s ongoing �special relationship� with the UVF.
Controversy erupted in May 2006 when UUP leader Reg Empey allowed the Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine to join the UUP assembly group. The PUP is the political wing of the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a terrorist organisation that carried out sectarian murders of Catholics at random during the Troubles. Many in the UUP, including the last remaining MP, Sylvia Hermon, were opposed to the move, wishing to distance themselves from sectarian violence in favour of a more political approach.