Assembly Explained
Welcome to Assembly Explained!
Whether you're a curious citizen, a business owner, or someone who just can't get enough politics, this series is your insider guide to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Through engaging articles, informative videos, and insightful podcasts, we'll demystify the Assembly's workings, explore current hot topics and empower you to understand how the Assembly's decisions impact your daily life.
Holding Power to Account: The Opposition in the Northern Ireland AssemblyGuide to Procedure
Each guide is presented as an alphabetical list of common procedural and parliamentary topics and terms. To learn about a particular topic or term, simply click on a letter. For each term you'll find a definition of the topic, some further descriptive information, as well as signposts to related topics or information.
What is Legislative Consent?
The UK Parliament has retained authority to legislate on any issue, whether devolved or not. However, by convention (known as the Sewell Convention) it is not normally the case that the UK government will legislate on devolved matters.
Under the Sewel Convention,
“It is ultimately for Parliament to decide what use to make of that power (to legislate on devolved matters). However, the UK Government will proceed in accordance with the convention that the UK Parliament would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters except with the agreement of the devolved legislature. The devolved administrations will be responsible for seeking such agreement as may be required for this purpose on an approach from the UK Government.”
Video - The Assembly and the Executive
Video - How the Speaker is Elected
Video - How are the First and deputy First Ministers nominated
The Assembly Podcast
Do you know the difference between the Assembly and Executive? What happens after an Assembly election? How a bill goes from idea to law? In our podcast we try to explain the work of the Northern Ireland Assembly and cover events in and around Parliament Buildings.
As well as listening to all our episodes here you can also subscribe via Spotify, Apple or Amazon.
