Territorial extent and application
- Sections 1 and 3 extend to England and Wales and Scotland. Sections 2 and 4 extend to Northern Ireland. Section 5 extends to the whole of the United Kingdom. An amendment or repeal in the Act has the same extent as the provision amended or repealed.
- There is a convention that Westminster will not normally legislate with regard to matters that are within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales or the Northern Ireland Assembly without the consent of the legislature concerned.
Scotland
- The matters to which the provisions of the Act relate are not within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.
Wales
- The Act does not contain any provisions relating to matters within the legislative competence of the National Assembly of Wales.
Northern Ireland
- Under the provisions of Schedule 2 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 NICs are an excepted matter. The Act therefore applies to the relevant Northern Ireland legislation relating to NICs.
