Northern Ireland Assembly Opposition

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The role of official opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly can be taken by larger political parties who do not participate in Northern Ireland's consociational power-sharing Executive. Forming an Assembly Opposition empowers opposition parties to scrutinise the work of government, [1] giving them financial assistance, enhanced speaking rights in the chamber and the right to chair certain committees. [2]

Contents

While the Assembly and Executive had been in operation since 1998 and 1999, respectively (following the Good Friday Agreement), the Assembly Opposition was only established in 2016, as part of the Fresh Start Agreement. [1] The opportunity was first taken by the Ulster Unionist Party and Social Democratic and Labour Party for the Assembly's fifth term, following the May 2016 assembly election [3] , and has once again been taken by the SDLP since the May 2022 assembly election. [4]

Opposition in previous legislatures

Northern Ireland was governed from 1921 to 1972 by a bicameral Parliament, where in the lower House of Commons the largest and therefore the governing party was consistently the Ulster Unionist Party. It could have been expected, following the Westminster system, that the role of official Opposition would be taken by largest party outside of government,[ citation needed ] which was consistently an Irish nationalist party (jointly Sinn Féin and the Nationalist Party in the Parliament's first term from 1921 to 1925, and thereafter the Nationalist Party). However, during this time members of the Nationalist opposition often practised a policy of abstentionism where they would run for seats in the parliament but refuse to take them if elected, in order not to give legitimacy to British rule or the partition of the island. Nationalist Party members refused to take their seats in the legislature until 1924, and resumed the abstentionist policy in the 1930s to protest the abolition of proportional representation. From 1937, Thomas Joseph Campbell and Richard Byrne were the only Nationalist MPs to take their seats until Byrne's death in 1942 and Campbell's resignation in 1945.

It was not until February 1965 that the Nationalist Party agreed to accept recognition as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons. [5] [6] Eddie McAteer served as Leader of the Opposition for the remainder of the tenth term and through the eleventh term until they withdrew from the official Opposition in October 1968 following the Government's response the RUC's attack on a NICRA march in Derry. [7]

The majority-rule Parliament was abolished and replaced in 1973 by a unicameral Northern Ireland Assembly. An Executive was formed in which unionist, nationalist and cross-community parties shared power for the first time. However, that government only lasted from January to May 1974, and from then until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 Northern Ireland was ruled directly by the British Government.

Participation

The legal basis for the Assembly Opposition was established by the Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016. [2] Under section 2, [8] a party may join the official Opposition if it both has no minister in government, and it meets one or both of two criteria:

The UUP have consistently fulfilled both criteria, however only elected to join the Opposition in the fifth term. The SDLP met both criteria after the 2016 and 2017 elections, and met the second criteria after the 2022 election, choosing to join the opposition for the fifth and seventh terms. Alliance fulfilled the second criteria in the 2017 election and both criteria after the 2022 election but have not elected to join the Opposition.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin would currently be excluded from entering opposition if they wished to, because as the largest unionist and largest nationalist party they must participate in the Executive. [11]

The Assembly Opposition Act recognises the offices of Leader of the Largest Non-Executive Party and Leader of the Second-Largest Non-Executive Party, although these positions may be given alternative names (section 5). [12] Assembly Standing Orders clarifies these roles will be titled the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. [1]

Benefits of official status

Following the Assembly Opposition Act, the standing orders which regulate how the Assembly conducts its business were amended on 14 March 2016 [13] to provide the Assembly Opposition with:

The Assembly Opposition Act also required standing orders to grant:

and amended the Financial Assistance for Political Parties Act (Northern Ireland) 2000 to give Assembly Opposition parties additional funding (section 11). [20]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Official Opposition | Northern Ireland Assembly Education Service". education.niassembly.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "Northern Ireland's first official Opposition – a step towards 'normal politics'? | The Institute for Government". www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "NI politics: SDLP to form official opposition at Stormont". BBC News. 25 July 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  5. ↑ Tonge, Jonathan (2013). Northern Ireland: Conflict and Change. London/New York: Routledge. pp. 26–27. ISBN   9781317875185 . Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Dunning, Alastair (1 October 2006). "The Stormont Papers: 'The Parliamentary Debates (Official Report). In the third session of the tenth Parliament of Northern Ireland appointed to meet at Stormont on the twenty-seventh day of October in the thirteenth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Volume 59', page 128". stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk. Arts and Humanities Data Service, Queen's University Belfast. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1968". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  8. ↑ "Section 2, Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "Northern Ireland Act 1998". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "2018 Review". Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  11. ↑ "Section 16A, Northern Ireland Act 1998". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  12. ↑ "Section 5, Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  13. ↑ "Recent Amendments to Standing Orders". www.niassembly.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  14. ↑ "Standing Order 20A, Standing Orders as amended 4 October 2016". www.niassembly.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  15. ↑ "Section 6, Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  16. ↑ "Standing Order 10, Standing Orders as amended 4 October 2016". www.niassembly.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "Section 8, Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  18. ↑ "Section 9, Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  19. ↑ "Section 10, Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  20. ↑ "Section 11, Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
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