The Act requires that the Secretary of State report regularly to Parliament, designed to limit the ability of the sovereign to prorogue parliament, as well as providing for the legalisation of same-sex marriage and opposite-sex civil partnership in Northern Ireland (in line with the rest of the UK) and the liberalisation of abortion laws (in line with abortion rights in England and Wales) if no executive was formed by midnight on 21 October 2019.

These elections were the first in the history of Northern Ireland where unionist parties did not win a majority: this was attributed to the RHI scandal, the role of the DUP in Brexit, and demographic shifts.

Following the resignation of Theresa May as Leader of the Conservative Party, pro-Remain and moderate pro-Leave MPs were concerned that the frontrunner to replace her, Boris Johnson may consider proroguing parliament in order to force a no-deal Brexit.

As this legislation was in the House during this time, Dominic Grieve and others saw it as having potential to act as a vehicle through which they could limit the right of the executive, Queen Elizabeth II, to order prorogation.

[2][9] The effect of Brexit on the Irish border and the slow progress of talks to restore the Northern Ireland executive both served as reasons for amending the bill to provide for reports to parliament.

[9] In Northern Ireland, LGBT rights lagged behind the rest of the United Kingdom, due to the petition of concern motion available to the socially-conservative and evangelical Democratic Unionist Party.

However, with no Northern Ireland executive available to legislate on the issue, direct rule was used as an instrument in order to equalise protection and recognition for LGBT individual across the union.

[2][9] On 28 August 2019, Boris Johnson advised the Queen to prorogue parliament between 12 September and 14 October 2019, thereby spurring a number of court cases, with many of the objections centred around this provision within the Act.

In the R (Miller) v The Prime Minister and Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland cases, the Supreme Court ruled the prorogation illegal, but not based on these provisions of the Act.

[15] The Northern Ireland Department of Health issued a statement outlining its intent to produce medical guidance to bring NHS abortion services in line with those provided in the rest of the United Kingdom on 1 April 2020.

[16] The Act has formed part of the basis for two of several court cases around the attempted prorogation of Parliament by Boris Johnson: R (Miller) v The Prime Minister and Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland.