Editing Government of Ireland Act 1920 (section)

== Long's committee & Bill Approval==
{{main|Home Rule Crisis}}
A delay ensued because of the effective end of the [[World War I|First World War]] in November 1918, the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919]] and the [[Treaty of Versailles]] that was signed in June 1919. Starting in September 1919, with the British Government, now led by [[David Lloyd George]], committed under all circumstances to implementing Home Rule, the British cabinet's Committee for Ireland, under the chairmanship of former [[Irish Unionist Alliance]] leader [[Walter Long, 1st Viscount Long|Walter Long]], pushed for a radical new solution. Long proposed the creation of two Irish home rule entities, Northern Ireland and [[Southern Ireland (1921–22)|Southern Ireland]], each with [[unicameral]] parliaments. The House of Lords accordingly amended the old Bill to create a new Bill which provided for two [[bicameral]] parliaments, "consisting of His Majesty, the Senate of (Northern or Southern) Ireland, and the House of Commons of (Northern or Southern) Ireland."

The Bill's second reading debates in late March 1920 revealed that already a large number of Irish MPs present felt that the proposals were unworkable.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/mar/29/government-of-ireland-bill-1|title=Government of Ireland Bill. (Hansard, 29 March 1920)|website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|access-date=3 October 2019|archive-date=3 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003095710/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/mar/29/government-of-ireland-bill-1|date=29 March 1920|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/mar/31/government-of-ireland-bill|title=Government of Ireland Bill. (Hansard, 31 March 1920)|website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|access-date=3 October 2019|archive-date=24 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024064932/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/mar/31/government-of-ireland-bill|date=31 March 1920|url-status=live}}</ref>

For a variety of reasons all the Ulster Unionist MPs at Westminster voted against the Act. They preferred that all or most of Ulster would remain fully within the United Kingdom, accepting the proposed northern Home Rule state only as the second best option. The Long Committee originally called for all nine Counties of Ulster to be included in Northern Ireland. When it became clear that three counties of Ulster would be excluded from Northern Ireland, southern Unionists left the [[Irish Unionist Alliance]] (dissolved in 1922) and formed the [[Unionist Anti-Partition League]] in opposition to the impending partition of Ireland.<ref>Moore, pg 21.</ref>

After considerable delays in debating the financial aspects of the measure, the substantive third reading of the Bill was approved by a large majority on 11 November 1920. On that date, [[Thomas Harbison]], MP for [[North East Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)|North East Tyrone]], predicted that violence would result in his constituency: <ref>{{cite speech |last=Harbison |first=Thomas |title=Government of Ireland Bill |event=debate  |date=11 November 1920 |location=UK House of Parliament |publisher=Hansard |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1920-11-11/debates/28f27e79-6a8d-46d9-8ee4-860281278c9b/GovernmentOfIrelandBill?highlight=devlin#contribution-97a63bf5-ec42-4c77-95c9-c132822f341f |access-date=21 March 2023 }}</ref>
{{blockquote|"This is not a Bill for the better government of Ireland. I believe that the people in the county that I represent would be legally justified in using every form of resistance in their power to prevent this Act, if it ever becomes an Act, from coming into operation. It is a sentence of death, in my opinion, upon us as a unit in that Parliament. Our liberties are gone; and if the younger men of Ireland become indignant, and take courses that no sane man could defend, who will be responsible? The responsibility will be upon the men who have produced this Bill at the dictates of a narrow-minded set of reactionaries in the North-East corner of Ulster. It is a very small corner of Ulster; I have the map of it here. A set of reactionaries in that corner will have us under their heel for all time. I know the feeling of the men whom I represent, and I assure you, on this Armistice night, when all should be peace, that you are going to create, not peace, but eternal dissatisfaction, division, and, I am afraid, destruction."}}

A considerable number of the Irish Members present voted against the Bill, including [[Irish Unionist Alliance#Southern Unionists|Southern Unionists]] such as [[Maurice Dockrell (Unionist politician)|Maurice Dockrell]] and Nationalists like [[Joseph Devlin]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/nov/11/government-of-ireland-bill|title=Government of Ireland Bill. (Hansard, 11 November 1920)|website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|access-date=3 October 2019|archive-date=3 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003095712/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/nov/11/government-of-ireland-bill|date=11 November 1920|url-status=live}}</ref> Most Irish MPs were abstaining from Westminster, sitting in Dáil Éireann.