Section 18 not to apply to relevant Minister

1 Subject to sub-paragraphs (2) to (5), section 18 (Northern Ireland Ministers) shall not apply in relation to— a the relevant Minister; or b the Ministerial office held by the relevant Minister (the “relevant Ministerial office”), and paragraphs 11E to 11G shall apply instead. 2 The references to Ministerial offices in subsection (1)(c) and (d) of section 18 shall be taken to include the relevant Ministerial office. 3 In the application of section 18(5) to a political party which is entitled to two or more Ministerial offices, the reference to Ministerial offices (in the definition of M)— a at any time when the number of Ministerial offices held by members of the party (apart from the relevant Ministerial office) is nil, shall be taken not to include the relevant Ministerial office; but b at any time when the number of Ministerial offices held by members of the party (apart from the relevant Ministerial office) is one or more, shall be taken to include the relevant Ministerial office. 4 In the application of section 18(5) to any other political party, that reference to Ministerial offices shall be taken to include the relevant Ministerial office. 5 For the purposes of this paragraph, a political party is entitled to two or more Ministerial offices if the nominating officer of the party would be entitled to nominate persons to hold two or more Ministerial offices under section 18, assuming that— a on each occasion on which a nominating officer of a political party is entitled to exercise the power conferred by section 18(2), he does so within the period mentioned in section 18(3)(a); b the nominated person, in each case, takes up the selected Ministerial office within that period; and c the reference in section 18(5) to Ministerial offices (in the definition of M) is taken to include the relevant Ministerial office.