Northern Ireland was created only as a distinct region after the 1921 partition of Ireland, when the Republic of Ireland was released. However Wales, Scotland, and England have all had history as independent states for the majority of their existence.

The presence of Ulster Banner in Northern Ireland as an unofficial banner is reflective of the highly convoluted and complex relationship the Northern Irish state has with both the United Kingdom, the Republic and Irish national history. From 1953 to 1973, the Ulster Banner was the official flag of the Northern Irish government until the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 removed it as an official emblem for the state.

The 1973 Act's removal of the Ulster Banner as an official flag was in keeping with a larger trend in Northern Ireland of trying to eliminate divisive sectarian symbols while maintaining a pro-Unionist orientation for the government. The Flags and Emblems Act of 1954 prohibited the flying of any ensign other than wither the Ulster Banner or the Union Jack as a breach of the peace. The 1954 Act entitled the RUC to remove any proscribed flag off of private property on these grounds. The problem for the Northern Irish government was that favoring the Ulster Banner fanned some of the very sectarian tensions that acts such as 1954's was ostensibly trying to avoid. The dilemma for Northern Irish politicians, and one that was highly contradictory, was how to maintain Unionism in Northern Ireland without enabling a Protestant extremism that would threaten the domestic peace.

The Ulster Banner was reflective of this process and its myriad failures. As a historical symbol, the Red Hand of Ulster has a long historical pedigree and many different Irish groups used it, including some nationalist/republican groups. Post-division, the Red Hand seemed to be an ideal symbol for Northern Ireland. As the republicans had begun a process of monopolizing a number of Ireland's national historical symbols, the Red Hand was ideal because it was an relatively local symbol for one of the strongholds of unionism, Ulster. It was nominally a non-sectarian symbol initially, as the Red Hand dates back to the Kingdom of Ulster and Irish legends. The Ulster Banner was to be a local symbol for the entirety of the Northern Irish state that would stand to counter national ones like the Irish tricolor or the Celtic Harp. The problem was that as a political symbol, the Ulster Banner became very closely associated with Protestant sectarianism and forces like the UVF and UDA. Rather than being a relatively neutral symbol of a pro-Unionist government, the Ulster Banner and the Red Hand emerged during the Troubles as a symbol for paramilitarism and sectarian violence.

The legend behind the Red Hand (for those not in the know, one legend is that in a race for the rightful King of Ulster, the winner achieved victory by cutting off his own hand and throwing it ahead of his opponent who was about to cross the finish line) dovetailed nicely with the Protestant sectarianism's staunch resistance to any concessions and other forms of militant resistance. As such, the Ulster Banner emerged as a highly tainted symbol in both the Republic and Northern Ireland. Flying the Ulster Banner conveys certain political messages not only abut unionism, but also what type of unionism being championed. The Ulster Banner and the Red Hand's use by paramilitaries means that both are freighted with a contemporary sectarian legacy that other national symbols of the UK like the Welsh Dragon or the St Andrew's Cross simply lack. For the UK and Northern Irish governments, the Union Jack is a much more neutral alternative.