Commentary on Sections Section 5: Secretary of State’s powers in relation to exclusion
22.This section inserts new section 30A into the 1998 Act, conferring on the Secretary of State new powers to exclude Ministers, junior Ministers and all members of a political party from holding ministerial office. It also amends section 18 of the 1998 Act to provide for the running of the d’Hondt mechanism to fill Ministerial offices where the Secretary of State exercises his exclusion powers.
23.New section 30A(1) provides that the Secretary of State may only exercise his power to exclude if :
	The Commission makes a report under the terms of the Treaty which contains a recommendation about the steps that the Assembly might consider taking; and
	The taking of those steps requires the Assembly to pass a resolution under section 30(1), (1A),(2) or (3); and
	The first motion for a resolution to take those recommended steps does not attract cross-community support.