Welsh disestablishment and Irish home rule were both major policies of H. H. Asquith's Liberal government that had met with considerable controversy and parliamentary opposition in the 1910s.

By the summer of 1914, however, the enactment of both measures seemed inevitable as the provisions set out by the Parliament Act 1911 had been met, allowing the Government to force them through, despite the opposition of the House of Lords, if it so chose.

Upon the outbreak of war with Germany, the government had agreed a "political truce" with the opposition Conservative leader, Bonar Law.

A subsequent series of Orders in Council, dated 29 February 1916, 7 September 1916, 13 March 1917, 22 August 1917, 27 February 1918, 4 September 1918, 12 March 1919, 18 August 1919, 2 March 1920, and 13 August 1920 suspended the Irish Act in further blocks of six months until the Government of Ireland Act 1920 (passed 23 December 1920) repealed the 1914 Home Rule Act.

However, the 1920 Act was never fully implemented either, due to the Irish War of Independence (culminating in the independence from the United Kingdom of most of Ireland as the Irish Free State); home rule was only established in Northern Ireland.