Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill — Third Reading — 24 Oct 2018 at 19:01

The majority of MPs voted to extend the time period for within which Northern Ireland ministers can be appointed to run until at least 26 March 2019.

MPs were considering the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill^[1].

The background to the Bill was set out in the explanatory notes^[2]:

• There has been no functioning Northern Ireland Executive since 9 January 2017, when the then deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland resigned, which also resulted in the First Minister ceasing to hold office. All other Northern Ireland Ministers ceased to hold office when an extraordinary Assembly election was held on 2 March 2017. The period for the appointment of Ministers to form an Executive after that election was extended to 29 June 2017 by the Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Act 2017 ("MARRA"), but no Ministers were appointed.

The Bill extends the time under section 16A of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 Act for Ministers to be appointed until 26 March 2019, with the possibility to further extend that period for up to 5 months with the agreement of Parliament.

The motion supported by the majority of MPs in this vote was:

• That the Bill be now read the Third time.

support for the Bill enabled it to continue on its path to becoming law.

• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill
• [2] Explanatory notes to the Bill

Debate in Parliament |