Policy paper

2010 to 2015 government policy: Northern Ireland political stability

Updated 8 May 2015

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

This is a copy of a document that stated a policy of the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government. The previous URL of this page was https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/supporting-political-stability-and-the-institutions-in-northern-ireland Current policies can be found at the GOV.UK policies list.

Issue

We want Northern Ireland to be stable, peaceful and prosperous. To achieve this, we need to continue to work with the Northern Ireland Executive, the Irish government and all those who share our goals.

The 1998 Belfast Agreement and the institutions it created are the fundamental aspects of the devolution settlement.

The Agreement has been supplemented at various times by other agreements and legislation, notably at St Andrews in 2006. The Agreement reached at Hillsborough Castle in 2010 led to the devolution of policing and justice functions to the Northern Ireland Assembly and marked the completion of the final outstanding piece of the devolution picture outlined in 1998.

The UK government is committed to working with all our partners to ensure the continuing stability of the devolution settlement and the institutions. The principles of the Agreements remain paramount.

Actions

We will continue to fulfill the government’s role in implementing the agreements and by further embedding political stability.

We will continue to work with the Northern Ireland Executive and others to ensure they are able to achieve their priorities.

We will work to make sure that UK government policy takes account of Northern Ireland constitutional and devolution issues, and that the Northern Ireland Executive has visibility and understanding of UK wide policy.

We will continue to work with the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland to successfully deliver elections and improve the accuracy and completeness of the electoral register. This is alongside other reforms to update election legislation in Northern Ireland.

Background

The Belfast Agreement

The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement) was signed on 10 April 1998. The agreement covered 3 areas:

• the creation of a democratically elected Assembly
• the creation of a North/South Ministerial Council
• the creation of a British-Irish Council and the British-Irish Governmental Conference

The British-Irish Council brings together representatives of the British and Irish governments, members of the devolved institutions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and representatives from the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.

Referendums on the Agreement took place on 22 May 1998 in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In Northern Ireland 71.12% voted in favour of the Agreement and in the Republic of Ireland 94.4% voted in favour.

The St Andrews Agreement

In 2002, the devolved institutions were suspended. After intensive discussions, the St Andrews agreement was reached in October 2006. It provided for the devolved institutions to be restored on 8 May 2007.

Further information

For more information on devolution, see our detailed guidance on devolution.

Bills and legislation

The Northern Ireland Act 1998 established the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 made further changes to reflect the St Andrews Agreement.

The Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 made a number of changes designed to improve the functioning of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Who we’ve consulted

In September 2013 we issued a consultation on Draft legislation: Anonymous registration - protecting voters at risk in Northern Ireland. This proposed introducing anonymous registration in Northern Ireland to allow vulnerable individuals to register to vote without the risk of being traced via the electoral register. The consultation response was published in February 2014. Legislation was made to bring forward the necessary changes and anonymous registration came into force in Northern Ireland in September 2014.

A consultation on Draft legislation: Increasing the transparency of donations and loans to political parties in Northern Ireland was launched in January 2014 and closed the following April. Work is ongoing to finalise legislation to bring before Parliament.

A consultation on proposals to update forms for elections in Northern Ireland was published in April 2014. It contained proposals to update the appearance of voter-facing forms in Northern Ireland to make them more accessible to users. The consultation closed in June 2014 and work is ongoing to finalise legislation to bring before Parliament.