This paper provides details and links for ministerial statements and parliamentary debates (from both Houses of Parliament) that cover international affairs and defence.
Documents to download
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Devolution in Northern Ireland, 1998-2020 (900 KB, PDF)
The Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive were restored on 11 January 2020, more than three years after they collapsed in January 2017. The Assembly elected on 2 March 2017 was not formally suspended, as in the past, and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) continued to carry out a range of activities, most significantly constituency work. The next Assembly election is due to take place in May 2022.
The devolution settlement in Northern Ireland is, as the academic Colin Knox put it in 2010, “inextricably linked to the divisive issues which precipitated its inception and characterise its operation in practice”. Furthermore, as others have written, in Northern Ireland “more than any other part of the United Kingdom, devolution remains a process”.
That process began in 1921, when executive and legislative power was first devolved to the newly-created Northern Ireland, making it the only part of the UK to have experience of devolution prior to 1999. At that point, the Scotland Act 1998, Government of Wales Act 1998 and Northern Ireland Act 1998 transformed the UK’s territorial constitution.
This briefing paper sets out the devolution settlement in Northern Ireland as it stands, before revisiting the Belfast Agreement of 1998 and charting subsequent legislation and political events since that date.
Documents to download
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Devolution in Northern Ireland, 1998-2020 (900 KB, PDF)
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On 23 June 2020, the House approved the establishment of an Independent Expert Panel to consider cases against MPs raised under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme. On 24 November 2020, it will be asked to approve the eight members of the Independent Expert Panel.
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The House debated the Independent Complaints and Grievance Policy Programme Team’s Delivery Report on 19 July 2018 and agreed a new parliament-wide Behaviour Code. Procedures for making complaints and obtaining support have been put in place. This briefing note reviews the debate, the report, the background to it and subsequent developments. Inquiries by Dame Laura Cox and Gemma White, and the implementation of their recommendations are also discussed.
