Northern Ireland Assembly Opposition facts for kids
The role of the official opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly is for political parties that are not part of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government. This government is called the Northern Ireland Executive.
Being an Assembly Opposition helps these parties check what the government is doing. It gives them extra money, more time to speak in the Assembly, and the chance to lead certain committees.
Even though the Assembly and Executive started in 1998 and 1999, the idea of an official Assembly Opposition only began in 2016. This was part of an agreement called the Fresh Start Agreement. The first parties to become the official opposition were the Ulster Unionist Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party. This happened after the May 2016 election.
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Opposition in the Past
Northern Ireland had a different government from 1921 to 1972, called the Parliament of Northern Ireland. In its main house, the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party was always the biggest party and ran the government.
Normally, the next biggest party would be the official opposition. In Northern Ireland, this was usually an Irish nationalist party. However, many nationalist politicians often chose not to take their seats in the parliament, even if they won elections. This was called abstentionism. They did this to show they did not agree with British rule or the division of Ireland.
For example, members of the Nationalist Party refused to take their seats until 1924. They did it again in the 1930s to protest changes to how votes were counted.
It wasn't until February 1965 that the Nationalist Party agreed to be the Official Opposition. Eddie McAteer became the Leader of the Opposition. He held this role until he lost his seat in the 1969 election.
The old Parliament was closed in 1972. A new Assembly was set up in 1973. For the first time, unionist, nationalist, and other parties shared power in the government. But this government only lasted a few months. After that, the British Government directly ruled Northern Ireland until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
How Parties Can Join the Opposition
The rules for the Assembly Opposition were set by a law in 2016. A party can join the official Opposition if it does not have any ministers in the government, and if it meets one or both of these conditions:
- It could have had one or more government ministers based on its number of seats (using a system called the D'Hondt method), but it chose not to.
- It holds 8% or more of all the seats in the Assembly. For example, this meant 9 out of 108 seats in 2016, and 8 out of 90 seats from 2017 onwards.
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) usually meet both of these conditions. The Alliance Party also met the second condition in the 2017 election.
The two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, must be part of the government. So, they cannot become the official opposition.
The law also recognizes the titles of "Leader of the Largest Non-Executive Party" and "Leader of the Second-Largest Non-Executive Party."
Benefits of Being Official Opposition
When a party becomes the official Assembly Opposition, it gets several benefits:
- It is officially recognized in the Assembly's rules.
- It gets to ask the first "Topical Question" during Assembly sessions.
- It has special time set aside for "Opposition Business" in the Assembly.
- It gets at least 10 days each year for its own debates and proposals.
- It has the right to lead the Public Accounts Committee, which checks how the government spends money.
- It gets a seat on the Business Committee, which plans the Assembly's work.
- It receives extra money to help with its political work.
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