Mystery over big delay in Royal Assent for bill passed by MLAs

Mystery surrounds a highly unusual delay in the Queen giving her assent for a bill passed by MLAs almost four months ago to become law.
By The Newsroom
Published 8th Jun 2016, 08:22 BST
Stormont would have 90 seats instead of 108 under the billStormont would have 90 seats instead of 108 under the bill
Stormont would have 90 seats instead of 108 under the bill

On February 23, the Assembly voted to pass the Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Bill, which will cut the number of MLAs from 108 to 90 by reducing the number of seats per constituency from six to five.

Yet, as the summer recess looms, Royal Assent has not yet been granted, meaning that if the Assembly was to fall tomorrow the election would be for 108 seats rather than 90.

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The move has baffled some at Stormont, because Royal Assent is normally a formality which is completed about a month after the Assembly has passed the bill.

The situation is all the more confusing because bills passed subsequent to the Reduction of Numbers Bill have received Royal Assent and are now law.

And the bill in question is one of the simplest and least contentious ever passed by Stormont – it contains just one 90-word clause – meaning that it is difficult to envisage any legal concerns which could have delayed the process.

One Stormont source speculated that the government could have used the threat of the bill becoming law as a bargaining device with the parties, had the DUP and Sinn Fein failed to agree on a justice minister, leading to a snap election.

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In a statement, the NIO – which is responsible for putting the bill forward for Royal Assent – said: “The Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) bill is unusual in that, under section 15 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, it requires an additional stage of Westminster parliamentary control.

“This is because it deals with a reserved matter which is not ancillary to other provisions. It therefore has to be laid for 20 sitting days in Westminster as part of the wider Royal Assent process. This is the stage we are at currently in the process.”

However, more than 20 sitting days have passed since February 23. When asked when the bill had been tabled in the Commons, the NIO said that the Secretary of State had not done so until 4 May – the day before the election, something it said was because the bill required “special handling”.

The News Letter asked the Assembly whether the Speaker had any view on the delay in the Assembly’s legislative will being enacted. In response, an Assembly spokeswoman just said that the bill had be “laid for 20 sitting days at Westminster without being prayed against before it can proceed to Royal Assent.”

Related topics:QueenNIOMLAs