REPORT SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF KEYS ON THE CONSTITUTION (LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL) BILL SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF KEYS ON THE CONSTITUTION (LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL) BILL At the sitting of the House of Keys on 1st April 2003 it was resolved that a committee of five members be established to - "examine and consider the Constitution (Legislative Council) Bill To take evidence thereon in public and report to the House before the Clauses Stage no later than April 2004 Hon S C Rodan MHK (Garff) Chairman The Hon J A Brown SHK (Castletown) Mrs B J Cannell MHK (Douglas East) Mrs H Hannan MHK (Peel) Hon J Rimington MHK (Rushen) The powers, privileges and immunities relating to the work of a committee of the House of Keys are those conferred by sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1876, sections 1 to 4 of the Privileges of Tynwald (Publications) Act 1973 and sections 2 to 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1984. Copies of this Report may be obtained from the Tynwald Library, Legislative Buildings, Bucks Road, Douglas IM1 3PW (Tel 01624 685516, Fax 01624 685522) or may be consulted at www. tynwald.org. im All correspondence with regard to this Report should be addressed to the Secretary of the House of Keys, Legislative Buildings, Bucks Road, Douglas IM1 3PW. To: The Hon James Anthony Brown SHK, Speaker of the House, and the Hon Members of the House of Keys REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION i (LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL) BILL PART 1 INTRODUCTION & HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL REFORM 1.1 At the sitting of the House of Keys on Tuesday 1st April 2003 it was resolved that a Select Committee of five members should be established to: "Examine and consider the Constitution (Legislative Council) Bill, to take evidence thereon in public and to report to the House before the Clauses Stage no later than April 2004” i 1.2 At the same sitting of the House the Long Title of the Constitution (Legislative Council) Bill was amended to enable the Bill to: I "make new provisions for the constitution of the House of Keys and the Legislative Council. " , 2 1.3 After a ballot Mrs Cannell, Mrs Hannan, Mr Rimington, Mr Rodan and Mr Speaker were elected, and at the first meting Mr Rodan was elected as Chairman. 1.4 In total your Committee has held fifteen meetings. 1.5 Your Committee decided that it would undertake its task in the following manner: (a) write to all Members of Tynwald inviting Members to submit, in writing, any views they may have on the Bill; together with any amendments they may wish to proposed. A deadline of 30th June 2003 was set for receipt of Members evidence; (b) invite members of the public to submit written evidence concerning the proposed Bill. A deadline of 30th June 2003 was set for receipts from the public; (c) to take oral evidence from Members of Tynwald and selected members of the public to amplify on their written evidence; and (d) to evaluate the proposals contained in the Bill in the light of evidence received and the Committee's own opinions and recommend to the House of Keys a way forward. 3 1.6 Legislative Council reform is of course not a new issue. Reform of the Council has been taking place over many years. In the last 50 years the following reforms have occurred: 1961: Isle of Man Constitution Act, which reduced the power of the Council over i legislation and subject to certain conditions allowed for a Bill to be passed by the Keys without the Council's approval; 1969: Isle of Man Constitution Act, which increased the number of members of the Council elected by the Keys from five to seven; 1971: Isle of Man Constitution Act, which removed the Attorney General's vote in the Council; 1975: Isle of Man Constitution (Amendment) Act, which removed the First Deemster from membership of the Council and introduced one more elected Member; 1980: Constitution (Legislative Council) (Amendment) Act, which removed the Lieutenant Governor from presiding over the Council; i 1981: Constitution (Amendment) Act, which formally established the Office of President of the Council; and 4 1990: Constitution Act, which established the Office of President of Tynwald (elected by Members of Tynwald Court) who would also act as ex officio President of the Council. These reforms clearly demonstrate the evolving nature of the composition and role of the Legislative Council. 1.7 Your Committee presented an Interim Report to the House of Keys on Tuesday 27th January 2004, recommending that leave be given for the Chairman to introduce a Private Member's Bill to provide that any Bill passed by the House and sent up to the Council shall, if not approved by the Council within three months, with or without amendment, return to the House; and that the House shall, on a motion made, again consider the Bill as it was passed by the House at its third reading and shall either approve or reject the Bill. Such a Bill shall require sixteen votes of the Members present and voting to be approved by the House. Your Committee's rationale for introducing this Private Member's Bill is to ensure that the Council, which is not directly elected, ought not to have the power to unnecessarily delay the will of the popularly elected Chamber, 5 PART 2 EVIDENCE RECEIVED 2.1 Evidence from Members 2.1.1 Written evidence was received from Mr J D Q Cannan MHK, Mr A J Earnshaw MHK and the Hon S C Rodan MHK. In addition Mr R E Quine MHK wrote to your Committee to inform them that he did not intend to make a further written response since the Committee already had a copy of his address to the Keys, made when he introduced the Bill. 2.1.2 Mr Cannan's written submission suggested the abolition of the Legislative i Council primarily on the grounds that it is not popularly elected and therefore had no public mandate or accountability. He envisaged a Tynwald of 32 or possibly 24 popularly elected members. 2.1.3 Mr Earnshaw indicated that, in his view, the present system was robust and had stood the test of time. i 2.1.4 The Hon S C Rodan argued for a directly elected Tynwald which could then be subdivided into Keys and Council for the purposes of considering legislation. 2.1.5 A copy of the letter requesting written evidence from Members together with the replies received as attached to the Report as Appendix 1. 6 2.2 Evidence from members of the Public 2.2.1 Evidence was received from Mr J C Cain, Mr R H Costain, Professor D Kermode of Liverpool John Moores University and Mr G V H Kneale CBE. 2.2.2 Mr Cain proposed a directly elected Council. Mr Costain suggested a directly elected Council chosen by the people from a panel of candidates approved by the House of Keys. Professor Kermode produced a detailed letter concerning the Legislative Council, attempts to reform it in the past and issues of relevance in further reform. Mr Kneale suggested, that in essence, there should be a directly elected Tynwald which would then be divided into two legislative committees. 2.2.3 A copy of the advertisement inviting public submissions and copies of the submissions received are included in the Report as Appendix 2. 2.3 Oral Evidence 2.3.1 Your Committee determined to take oral evidence from Professor Kermode, Mr Kneale and Mr Cain which took place on 5th September 2003. Your Committee then invited Mr R E Quine MHK, as the proposer of the Bill, to give oral evidence, which he did on 26th November 2003. In addition Mr J D Q Cannan MHK and Mr A J Earnshaw MHK were also given the opportunity to give oral evidence. Mr Cannan accepted the invitation and gave evidence on 26th November 2003. Mr Earnshaw was content with his written submission. 7 2.3.2 Hansard transcripts of the oral evidence taken from Professor Kermode, Mr Kneale, Mr Cain, Mr Quine MHK and Mr Cannan MHK are attached to the i Report as Appendix 3. PART 3 CONSTITUTION (LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL) BILL 3.1 Since the reason for establishing the Committee was to consider Mr Quine's Constitution (Legislative Council) Bill, your Committee believes that it is correct i to begin with a full assessment of this Bill. 3.2 Mr Quine has attempted to introduce reform to the Legislative Council in the past, and he indicated to your Committee, when giving oral evidence, that this Bill is an attempt to achieve a pragmatic solution that would command support in the House of Keys. The Bill, in essence, requires a popularly elected Legislative Council. The Legislative Council should consist of the President of Tynwald, the Attorney General (who would be non-voting as at present) and the Lord Bishop (who would become non-voting) all of whom sit by virtue of their Offices. In addition there would be eight popularly elected members. The eight would be elected by postal ballot for a five year term, with elections taking place in the year before a Keys General Election. Council elections would be conducted using the same electoral system and franchise qualifications that apply to Keys elections. However, the eight would be chosen by voters in five electoral areas largely determined by the spread of population around the Island. The Electoral areas proposed would be the North (one member), the South (two members), the West (one member), the East (two members) and Douglas (two members).