direct rule

direct rule (Northern Ireland 1972–98). On 24 March 1972, after Brian Faulkner's administration had refused to agree that control of security should be transferred to London, the Conservative government of Edward Heath announced the suspension of the system of devolved government in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland was now governed directly from Westminster. Cabinet responsibility was transferred from the home secretary to a newly created cabinet post of secretary of state for Northern Ireland. A team of junior government ministers was established to take over the political leadership of Northern Ireland government departments, and a Northern Ireland Office within the British civil service was created to support the new arrangements. The Stormont parliament, initially prorogued, was abolished, along with the ceremonial office of governor, by the Northern Ireland Constitution Act in July 1973. Northern Ireland legislation was passed through Westminster, using the somewhat truncated method of order in council rather than the full legislative bill procedure. By the 1990s a fuller method of scrutiny, by a Northern Ireland parliamentary committee, had been established. In 1983 the number of Northern Ireland MPs at West‐minster was increased from 12 to 17, raised in 1997 to 18.

A. C. Hepburn