Subject matter and legislative competence of devolved legislatures
All Sections and the Schedule affect matters within the devolved (transferred) competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Sewel Convention sets out that the UK Parliament will not normally legislate in an area of devolved competence without the agreement of the devolved legislatures. In the absence of the Executive and a sitting Assembly, and given the pressing need for the regional rates level to be set, there was neither the time available nor the practical ability for the Assembly to provide a Legislative Consent Motion. We were satisfied that the circumstances in which the Bill was introduced come within the terms of the Convention.