Motions
A motion is a proposal, on any matter of policy or concern, made to the House by a Member. The Member putting forward the motion is known as the mover. A motion should state that Tynwald Court, the House of Keys or Legislative Council do something, order something to be done, or express an opinion with regard to some matter. It must be phrased in such a way that, if passed, it will represent the judgment or will of the House. Notices of motion must be submitted at in advance and appear on the Order Paper.
Examples of motions include:
The Hon. Member for Michael (Mr Cannan) to move –
That Tynwald calls attention to the case for policies to support economic growth and to promote investment, innovation, technology and infrastructure.
The Minister for Environment, Food & Agriculture to move –
That Tynwald endorses the policy of a renewable energy target of 15% electricity generated from renewable sources by 2015.
The Hon Member for Douglas South to move -
That a Committee of three Members be appointed with powers to take written and oral evidence pursuant to sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1876, as amended, to investigate the feasibility of having all mobile phones (including pay as you go) issued on Isle of Man networks registered to an identified owner and to report to the October 2010 sitting of Tynwald.
In the House the presiding officer will call on the Member to move the motion, as with questions this is not read out. The mover opens the debate by putting forward the reasons for the motion being proposed. The motion needs to be seconded by another Member before it can be debated. Each Member, apart from the mover, may speak only once during each motion being debated so the Member seconding may choose to wait to speak later in which case he would say;
“I beg to second and reserve my remarks”
Otherwise he may second and make a contribution to the debate at that point.
The motion is then debated, concluding with the mover being given the final opportunity to respond to comments made by other Members during the debate. Members finally vote on whether or not the motion should be passed. In the examples shown above, if the second one was passed the Isle of Man Government would be expected to introduce a policy or policies to ensure that the target of 15% of electricity being generated from renewable sources is met by 2015 and if asked in the future would need to provide evidence that they had tried, whether or not successful. If the third motion was successful then a committee would be established.
Order and Question Papers
Read more about Motions and Amendments
