[4] The Democratic Unionist Party supported this and circulated a white paper proposing a reduction in MLAs and fewer departments in the Northern Ireland Executive.

[5] The deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness supported the proposal after Sinn Féin had initially opposed the reduction.

[6] In 2015 the bill was introduced into the Northern Ireland Assembly by the Alliance Party's Stewart Dickson.

[8] Royal assent was granted by Queen Elizabeth II on 22 July 2016 with the intention that the bill would come into force at the next election for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Sinn Féin refused to nominate a successor, which caused the Northern Ireland Executive to collapse due to requiring cross-community support.