A committee of MHKs has proposed a change to the procedure for electing the Chief Minister.

At present, candidates for the office of Chief Minister are not allowed to be called to speak in the House of Keys at the election sitting.

Instead, speeches can be made only by each candidate’s proposer and seconder.

The standing orders committee of the House of Keys has published a report proposing that the procedures are amended to provide for each candidate to make a 10-minute opening speech and a five-minute closing speech.

‘We believe that this will give the House a clearer indication of how each candidate would perform as Chief Minister,’ the report concludes.

The committee looked at the procedure as part of a wider review of standing orders which it embarked on soon after the 2021 general election

Tynwald members were consulted on the possible amendments and the topic was discussed at a workshop to which all MHKs and MLCs were invited.

Allied to the matter of speeches by candidates is the idea that they should be subject to a parliamentary question and answer session.

The report also recommends that a hustings be held ahead of Chief Minister election.

It notes: ‘While we believe that the hustings is a valuable format which should continue to be used, we think that it would be in the interests of the House, its members and the nation for candidates also to answer questions in the Chamber itself.’

The report says every member should be able to contribute a question but it would be in the interests of the House for the question session to cover a wide range of topics and a question paper would be constructed to avoid duplication.

Candidates would be allowed to remain in the Chamber and hear one another’s responses and to be able to ask questions of the other candidates on behalf of their constituents.

Under the existing system, the names of Chief Minister candidates must be submitted seven days before the election sitting and their policy statements five days beforehand.

Under our proposed new system, the names and policy statements would have to be submitted at the same time, seven days before the election sitting.

‘We believe it is important for the other members of the House to have the additional two days in which to read the policy statements and formulate and ask questions of the candidates both in the hustings and in the Chamber,’ the committee report states.

The proposals will be debated in the House of Keys on a date yet to be set.

If agreed by the House they would have immediate effect.

This means that they would be put into practice the next time it is necessary to elect a Chief Minister, which will be immediately after the 2026 general election or sooner in the event of a casual vacancy arising.