Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

was the leader of the largest

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

House of Commons of Northern Ireland The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the ''Government of Ireland Act 1920''. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished wit ...

that was not in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

of the day. The position was eliminated in 1972 when the

Stormont Parliament The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

was abolished and replaced by

direct rule Direct rule is when an imperial or central power takes direct control over the legislature, executive and civil administration of an otherwise largely self-governing territory. Examples Chechnya In 1991, Chechen separatists declared independence o ...

from London. The current

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

has no formally recognized Leader of the Opposition.

Abstentionism

Through the existence of the Stormont Parliament, members of the

Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

opposition often practiced a policy of

abstentionism Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in ...

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 and refused to accept recognition as the

Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

until 1965 despite the fact that they were the second party in the House of Commons in terms of seats won from 1925 until 1972 and had been tied for second with

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

(which was also abstentionist) in the first Northern Ireland House of Commons from 1921 to 1925. Though the Nationalist Party was consistently the second largest party in the House of Commons its members refused to take their seats in the legislature until 1924, then resumed the abstentionist policy in the 1930s to protest the abolition of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. From 1937,

Thomas Joseph Campbell Thomas Joseph Campbell (14 December 1871 – 3 May 1946), known as T. J. Campbell, was an Irish politician, barrister, journalist, author and judge. Early life and education Campbell was born in Belfast on 14 December 1871. He studied at St Ma ...

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 1965 that the Nationalist Party agreed to form the Official Opposition in the House of Commons.

Eddie McAteer Eddie McAteer (25 June 1914 – 25 March 1986) was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland. Born in Coatbridge, Scotland, McAteer's family moved to Derry in Northern Ireland while he was young. In 1930 he joined the Inland Revenu ...

served as Leader of the Opposition from 1965 until he lost his seat in the 1969 election. Roderick O'Connor succeeded McAteer as Nationalist Party leader but the party again withdrew from its role as Official Opposition.

The House of Commons

This is a list of people who served as the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' Leaders of the Opposition of Northern Ireland, being leaders of the largest party in the

which was not the government.

Northern Ireland Assembly

Pre-2022 After the introduction of power-sharing in the

, all willing parties who achieved adequate levels of support were invited into the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ter ...

. Starting in 2016, however, some qualifying parties choose to form an opposition. No "

" had been nominated, leaders from the opposition parties(during the 6th assembly) were as follows: *

Eamonn McCann Eamonn McCann (born 10 March 1943) is an Irish politician, journalist, political activist, and former councillor from Derry, Northern Ireland. McCann was a People Before Profit (PBP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 2016 ...

(2005–present;

People Before Profit People Before Profit ( ga, Pobal Roimh Bhrabús, PBP) is a left-wing to far-left Trotskyist political party formed in October 2005. It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. History PBP was established in 2005 as t ...

)(

Gerry Carroll Gerry Carroll (born 27 April 1987) is a People Before Profit politician from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who has represented the Belfast West constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly since May 2016. From 2014 until 2016 he also represented ...

was the party's only MLA) *

Jim Allister James Hugh Allister (born 2 April 1953) is a British Unionist politician and barrister in Northern Ireland. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) political party in 2007, leading the party since its formation. Allister has served as ...

(2007–present;

Traditional Unionist Voice The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties, the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place ...

) *

Clare Bailey Clare Bailey (born 18 June 1970) is a Northern Irish politician who was the Leader of Green Party Northern Ireland from November 2018 to August 2022, and was the Deputy Leader of the Green Party from 2014 to 2017. Bailey was a Member of the Legi ...

(2018–2022;

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

) *Post-2022 Following the SDLP declining to nominate an Infrastructure Minister to the Executive, on the 25th of July 2022 the SDLP formed an opposition and nominated the first Leader of the Opposition for the Assembly. *

Matthew O'Toole Matthew John O'Toole MLA (born 18 May 1983) is an Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician, former civil servant, and journalist who has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the Belfast South constituency ...

(2022-present;

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

)

Notes

References

{{Northern Ireland elections Parliament of Northern Ireland Politicians from Northern Ireland

Abstentionism

The House of Commons

Northern Ireland Assembly

See also

Notes

References