The UUC was formed by three members of the Northern Ireland Assembly who had been elected as "independent unionists" in 1998, and decided to form themselves into an official grouping to avail of facilities provided by the Assembly to parties.
The grouping subsequently registered with the Electoral Commission as the "United Unionist Coalition", a name recalling the anti-Sunningdale Agreement bloc of Unionist parties in the 1970s, the United Ulster Unionist Coalition.