Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973
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| Long title | An Act to make new provision for the government of Northern Ireland |
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| Citation | c. 36 |
| Introduced by | William Whitelaw, Northern Ireland Secretary |
| Territorial extent | Northern Ireland |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 18 July 1973 |
| Commencement | 18 July 1973 |
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Status: Amended
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| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Text of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk | |
The Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 (c. 36) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which received the royal assent on 18 July 1973. The Act abolished the suspended Parliament of Northern Ireland and the post of Governor and made provision for a devolved administration consisting of an Executive chosen by the new Northern Ireland Assembly devised under the Sunningdale Agreement; the Assembly had already been created by the Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973, passed two months earlier.
When the Republic of Ireland ceased to be a member of the British Commonwealth, Westminster had responded with the Ireland Act 1949. Amongst its other provisions, the Act had guaranteed that Northern Ireland would not cease to remain a part of the United Kingdom "without the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland" (s. 1(2)); this declaration had proven to be controversial both with the Irish government and with Northern Ireland's nationalist community.
The 1973 Act repealed the 1949 guarantee, and restated it (s. 1) in a slightly different form:
It is hereby declared that Northern Ireland remains part of Her Majesty's dominions and of the United Kingdom, and it is hereby affirmed that in no event will Northern Ireland or any part of it cease to be part of Her Majesty's dominions and of the United Kingdom without the consent of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland voting in a poll held for the purposes of this section in accordance with Schedule 1 to this Act.
Schedule 1 provided that no referendum was to be held before 9 March 1983. If the result of that or any future referendum meant that Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, a subsequent referendum on the issue could not be held for a further ten years.
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