The Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 is an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It was passed with the intent to ban dual mandates (also known as double-jobbing) for

Members of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

(MLAs) and to bring the

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 ...

's elections into line with the other British devolved legislatures. It received

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

on 13 March 2014.

Elections

During the debate on the

Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (c. 14) (FTPA) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that for the first time set in legislation a default fixed election date for a general election to the Westminster parliament. Since the repeal ...

, the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

and the

Welsh Assembly The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh ...

passed motions requesting the

Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal coat of arms of t ...

to delay their respective devolved legislature elections in 2015 to avoid a clash with the 2015 general election. The UK Government passed an amendment to the bill to allow for their elections to take place in 2016. Northern Ireland was not included in this bill due to the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election taking place at the time. The Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act was passed to bring the Northern Ireland Assembly into line with the other devolved legislatures and to extend each Assembly term to five years instead of four. The Act also provided the option for the Assembly to reduce its size to 90 MLAs. The option for an official opposition to be formed in the Assembly if there was sufficient cross community support was considered during the parliamentary debate, but was not included in the final act.

"Double-jobbing"

In 2009, a

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

report recommended banning double-jobbing despite noting that it was a part of political culture in Northern Ireland as part of a legacy of

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

which had discouraged people from taking part in standing for elected office. Indeed, at one point both

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...

and

John Hume John Hume (18 January 19373 August 2020) was an Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the recent political history of Ireland, as one of the architects of the Northern Ire ...

were "triple-jobbing" as an MLA, MP and MEP. By 2011 all the major parties in Northern Ireland had agreed to the principle of ending double-jobbing. The legislation prohibited people from being a member of the House of Commons or the Republic of Ireland's

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

as well as an MLA. The legislation banned double-jobbing from the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election but allowed those who currently held dual mandates to hold them until the election when they would have eight days to decide which legislature they wished to sit in. Three members had this possibility at the time of passage, but following the 2015 UK general election, the last person in Northern Ireland with a dual mandate was Gregory Campbell as an MLA and MP for East Londonderry.

References

{{reflist, 30em United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2014 Election law in the United Kingdom Northern Ireland Assembly Separation of powers Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Northern Ireland