The Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 is a 2016 Act of the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = ...

. It provided for a reduction of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in the Assembly from 108 to 90 for the first election following the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election.

History

The Northern Ireland Act 1998, passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom following the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

, established the Northern Ireland Assembly and declared that each Assembly constituency would elect six members. In 2014, during consideration of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014, the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster i ...

added an amendment to the bill to reduce the number of MLAs based upon Northern Irish popular opinion that the Northern Ireland Assembly was too large. The

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a wh ...

in the

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. ...

supported the amendment that provided the Assembly the power to vote to reduce itself in size providing there was sufficient cross-community support. The

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by ...

supported this and circulated a

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white pape ...

proposing a reduction in MLAs and fewer departments in the Northern Ireland Executive. The deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness supported the proposal after

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 ...

had initially opposed the reduction.

Passage

In 2015 the bill was introduced into the Northern Ireland Assembly by the Alliance Party's Stewart Dickson. It provided that the number of members elected in each of the 18 constituencies would be reduced from six to five. The bill was passed unanimously with no dissenting votes.

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 ...

was granted by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during h ...

on 22 July 2016 with the intention that the bill would come into force at the next election for the Northern Ireland Assembly. In 2017, McGuinness resigned as deputy First Minister because of Arlene Foster's decision to reject Sinn Féin's calls that she step down as First Minister, following the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. Sinn Féin refused to nominate a successor, which caused the Northern Ireland Executive to collapse due to requiring cross-community support. Because of the collapse of the Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, was obliged to dissolve the Assembly under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and called a snap election to be held on 2 March 2017. As a result, the implementation of the act was brought forward. This meant the 2017 Assembly election would be the first held under the Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, with 90 MLAs being returned instead of 108.

References

{{Reflist, 30em 2016 in Northern Ireland Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly Election law in the United Kingdom