S E L E C T C O M M I T T E E O F T Y N W A L D C O U R T O F F I C I A L R E P O R T R E C O R T Y S O I K O I L B I N G E R – L H E H T I N V A A L P R O C E E D I N G S D A A L T Y N ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION 2016 HANSARD Douglas, Friday, 9th December 2016 PP2016/0172 OOGE, No. 1 All published Official Reports can be found on the Tynwald website: www.tynwald.org.im/business/hansard Published by the Office of the Clerk of Tynwald, Legislative Buildings, Finch Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3PW. © High Court of Tynwald, 2016 SELECT COMMITTEE, FRIDAY, 9th DECEMBER 2016 Members Present: Chairman: Mr D C Cretney MLC Mr D J Ashford MHK Miss C L Bettison MHK Mrs D H P Caine MHK Mr M J Perkins MHK Clerk: Mr J D C King Assistant Clerk: Mr C M Shimmins Contents Procedural ........................................................................................................................................ 3 EVIDENCE OF Mr Peter Kelly, Captain of the Parish of Onchan ....................................................... 3 EVIDENCE OF Mr Steve Crowther .................................................................................................. 13 The Committee adjourned at 11.30 a.m. and resumed at 12.30 p.m. ........................................... 20 EVIDENCE OF Mr Tim Baker MHK, Member for Ayre and Michael ............................................... 20 EVIDENCE OF Mr Andrew Barton ................................................................................................... 28 The Committee adjourned at 1.28 p.m. ......................................................................................... 35 __________________________________________________________________ 2 OOGE SELECT COMMITTEE, FRIDAY, 9th DECEMBER 2016 Select Committee of Tynwald on the Organization and Operation of the General Election 2016 The Committee sat in public at 10.30 a.m. in the Legislative Council Chamber, Legislative Buildings, Douglas [MR CRETNEY in the Chair] Procedural The Chairman (Mr Cretney): Welcome to this public meeting of the Tynwald Select Committee on the Organization and Operation of the General Election. I am David Cretney MLC and I Chair this Committee. With me are Mr David Ashford MHK, Miss Clare Bettison MHK, Mrs Daphne Caine MHK and Mr Martyn Perkins MHK. 5 If we could please ensure that your mobile phones are off or on silent so that we do not have any interruptions. For the purposes of Hansard, I will be ensuring that we do not have two people speaking at once – and that will be this side of the table on this occasion. The Select Committee was established by Tynwald on Tuesday, 18th October 2016, with a remit to consider all aspects of the organisation and operation of the General Election 2016 and 10 to make recommendations for future practice in elections to the House of Keys and report no later than the April 2017 sitting of Tynwald. The Committee made a call for evidence on 21st October 2016 and we are grateful to everyone who has made a written submission. It would not have been practical to invite everyone to give oral evidence, but we have read all the submissions and we intend to publish 15 them on the Tynwald website. A number of people wrote to us about the new constituency boundaries. Our remit is the organisation and operation of the General Election, so constituency boundaries are outside of the scope of this investigation. Today we are hearing evidence from Peter Kelly, Steve Crowther, Tim Baker MHK and 20 Andrew Barton. First, we welcome Mr Peter Kelly, Captain of the Parish of Onchan, amongst other things. So welcome. Before we start asking questions, I would just say that we have allowed half an hour for this meeting with you. If we do not need that long it is fine, but if we do get to the half an hour point, I am afraid I will be encouraging you to draw it to a close for today. EVIDENCE OF Mr Peter Kelly, Captain of the Parish of Onchan 25 Q1. The Chairman: So, for the record, please would you state your name and the capacity in which you are appearing here today. __________________________________________________________________ 3 OOGE SELECT COMMITTEE, FRIDAY, 9th DECEMBER 2016 Mr Kelly: My name is Peter Roy Kelly. I am Captain of the Parish of Onchan, having been appointed in January of 2011. 30 Mr Chairman, as I see I am being recorded, it is my intention to read and I will read at normal pace, with your permission, and if you wish, as the clock has started ticking, I shall begin. Q2. The Chairman: Yes, absolutely, if you would like to make an opening statement that would be welcomed. 35 Mr Kelly: First of all, if I could just explain about the Captains of the Parishes, because not everyone knows by any means. Captains of the Parishes go back to Viking times and the first written reference was in 1420, and there has been a continuous list of Captains for each parish since 1627. 40 Unlike the ancient office of Coroners, there is no handbook; there is no guide for Captains of the Parishes as to what they do or how they do it. The only notification you have is on your Warrant of Appointment which makes great reference to the militia and how I have to exercise the militia for the defence of the Island during times of danger. However, ancient as that may seem, as recent as the two World Wars, the Captain of the 45 Parish in each parish in fact has had a responsibility or assumed a responsibility for recruitment, so it is not quite as ancient as it seems. I also have to quell riots and preserve the Sovereign’s peace, and to see that judgments and orders from courts are carried out. 50 The Chairman: I see now why you got the job! Mr Kelly: Probably. (Laughter) However, there is custom and practice, and custom and practice is that the Captains of the Parishes shall attend the Tynwald ceremony – although there is no legal obligation to do so. 55 They have acted as returning officers, according to the late Constance Radcliffe, from about 1860, but certainly from the 1890s when the Parochial Schools Act came in and the local authorities came in, and they were the ones who chaired the meeting and called the meeting. In Onchan, it is interesting that in May 1890 there was a public notice in the press that the Captain of the Parish had been petitioned to call a meeting to discuss the redistribution of seats 60 in the House of Keys. Twenty-eight people signed that petition. In practice, however, petitions for public requisition meetings come from residents and there is a presumption that, in addition to calling it, the Captain will chair it. I know this year there was at least one – probably just one – Captain who got a deputy to chair the meeting. It is not unusual: the late Jack Nivison, when he had turned 90, had George Waft chair the meeting, and 65 Harvey Briggs, when he had turned 90, got Ray Kniveton to do it. The number of residents petitioning is not stated anywhere and it appears to vary according to the Captain, whether he receives 10 or 12 signatures. This year there was in fact one Captain who announced, by a press release, when his requisition meeting was to take place. This notice in the press appeared before the House was 70 dissolved, let alone the opening or closing of nominations, so it was very much in anticipation that there would be an election, and it seemed rather strange that 12 members of the public would be like-minded to ask him to do it. Now the reading. Each Captain received a letter dated 10th August 2016 from Mrs C A Moreton, Policy and 75 Legislation Manager, Crowns and Elections, Cabinet Office, and it read: Dear Captain of the Parish, Requisition meetings. As in previous years, you may be approached by a number of persons in your parish to arrange a requisition meeting to enable candidates for the General Election to put forward their policies. Should this be the case, please __________________________________________________________________ 4 OOGE SELECT COMMITTEE, FRIDAY, 9th DECEMBER 2016 forward details directly to me as to the relevant constituency, where and when the requisition meeting will take place, and who will be chairing the meeting; and I will arrange appropriate coverage to publicise the meeting. On Wednesday, 17th August, I received a telephone call from a resident in Lakeside who said, ‘Apparently I am now in Garff. Who do I petition for a requisition meeting? Is it you in Onchan, because as far as I am concerned I live in Onchan; or is it somebody else because I have now been pushed into Garff?’ 80 At 11.50 a.m. on that day I telephoned Mrs Moreton. I put to her the query which I received and said, ‘I have to ring this man back. I need a definitive answer: who does he approach?’ Without hesitation, Mrs Moreton replied that he would have to go to the Captain of the Parish of Lonan, as he was in Garff. I conveyed this message to the person, who was irate, I think, to say the least. 85 I also had a discussion with her and she explained that ‘appropriate coverage’ was not going to cover the press notices as in all past elections, which not only advise as to the time and date of the requisition meeting, but also the names of those who had petitioned. At 12.15 p.m.