Catalogue Number
NMLH.1995.39.181
Object Name
Poster
Title
COULTHARD LABOUR. PUBLISHED BY N.I. LABOUR PARTY... ...
Place
Belfast, Northern Ireland
People
John Coulthard, Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP)
Events
Elections, General Election 1970
Date
1970
Description
A white poster with black text reading "COULTHARD LABOUR". In the centre of the poster there is a red box with a white dove of peace drawn inside. The dove is holding an olive branch.
This poster was made for the 1970 General Election, where John Coulthard was standing for the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) in the South Belfast seat. Coulthard stood against the incumbent Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) candidate Rafton Pounder, and lost the election with 29.6% of the vote to Pounder's 70.4%.
The NILP was founded in 1924, following the partition of Ireland, and styled themselves as a socialist alternative to the sectarian politics of unionism (largely Protestant, pro-UK) and nationalism (largely Catholic, pro-Ireland) movements. The NILP was active in the Northern Irish civil rights movement in the 1960s, and campaigned in working class Protestant areas. During the Troubles, they were voices advocating for peace, but also campaigned for Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom in the 1973 border referendum. The emergence of new parties appealing to the same Protestant communities on issues surrounding the Troubles - the SDLP, DUP and Alliance parties, split the NILP's voter base, and by the 1980s, the party had merged with other minor labour movement parties within Northern Ireland.
