The Joint Committee on the Constitutional Principles Raised by the Electoral Reform Bill 2011 intends to hear evidence from the persons listed below on Monday 19th March 2012 commencing at 10.00 am in the Legislative Council Chamber, Legislative Buildings, Bucks Road, Douglas.

10.00 am         Mr Noel Cringle OBE, Former President of Tynwald.

11.00 am         Mr Robert Quayle, Former Clerk of Tynwald

The evidence will be taken in public; members of the public are welcome to attend.

This will be the first Committee hearing to take place in the Legislative Council Chamber since a new portrait of former President Cringle, taken by Tynwald Seneschal Paul Dougherty, was put on display. The portrait is the 19th in a series  which includes all who have presided over the Legislative Council since it moved to its present Chamber in the early 1880s. For the first 100 years, presiding over the Council remained a responsibility of Lieutenant Governors, from Loch to Cecil. From 1980 to 1990 the Council elected its own Presidents (Nivison and Anderson). From 1990 the function of presiding over the Legislative Council passed to the holder of the newly-created office of President of Tynwald. The first holder of that office was Sir Charles Kerruish; he was succeeded in 2000 by Mr Cringle, who retired in July 2011.

The Electoral Reform Bill 2011 makes two main proposals. First, that the Island should be divided into eight constituencies; and second, that each constituency should return three MHKs and one MLC.

The Electoral Reform Bill 2011, a private Member’s Bill in the name of Mr David Callister MLC, passed its first reading in the Legislative Council on 14th June 2011. On 25th October 2011, the Council decided that the constitutional principles raised by the Bill should be referred to a Joint Committee under Standing Order 4.7 of Tynwald Court. On 22nd November 2011 the House of Keys agreed to form a Joint Committee.

The Members of the Committee are Mrs Brenda Cannell MHK (Caairliagh), Hon Phil Gawne MHK, Mr Leonard Singer MHK, Mr Phil Braidwood MLC, Mr David Callister MLC and Mr Alex Downie MLC.

The full text of the Bill can be found on the Tynwald website or by clicking here.

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For further information contact:
Office of the Clerk of Tynwald
Telephone: 01624 685500
Email: enquiries@tynwald.org.im
Website: www.tynwald.org.im