Chief Minister Alf Cannan has called for a strengthened role for the island’s political leader.
Mr Cannan suggested reforms such as a power of veto or a public mandate, during an evidence session with the Standing Committee on Constitutional, Legal Affairs and Justice.
The committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the ministerial system of government, heard Mr Cannan’s views on how the system could be made “more robust and more responsive”.
Reflecting on his time as a backbencher, Treasury Minister, and now Chief Minister, Mr Cannan acknowledged the system could struggle to make tough, unified decisions during crises.
Tough
“I think it’s a fair observation that, you know, clearly dealing with any difficult decisions, actually, politically, is tough,” he said.
He argued the current role of Chief Minister is one of consensus and carries less direct power than the public may perceive, describing it as “very much a sort of chair type role”.
“I’ll dispel that myth that exists, that under the current system, the Chief Minister holds any responsibilities for the decision making, per se,” he told the committee.
To improve outcomes, Mr Cannan suggested enhancing the position. “I think at difficult times, I think potentially having more of a stronger position in that evaluation of the decisions that need to be made would potentially be helpful,” he said.
He added: “It can be difficult to reach the tougher decisions without having those watered down or diluted or indeed not not getting through council.”
Veto
He proposed specific mechanisms, such as “giving the Chief Minister a power of veto, or allowing the chief minister the power of a vote in some capacity to take a proposition forward, even if it didn’t have full consensus in amongst his ministers”.
When questioned by committee members on whether this could create instability or tension within the Council of Ministers, Mr Cannan conceded it was a risk but necessary to consider.
“I think you would be looking at enhancing the role recognising, of course, that effectively, it does create potentially additional, additional risk, or arguably, may create better, better outcomes as well,” he said.
Mr Cannan said that when a veto is used, a Chief Minister would explain why they had done it to Tynwald.
Prisoner
The Chief Minister directly addressed a recent remark by MHK Chris Thomas that the chief minister is “a prisoner within his own Council of Ministers,” dismissing the characterisation.
“It’s not that’s not a good description of collective responsibility at all,” Mr Cannan responded.
Linking the discussion to broader public sentiment, Mr Cannan referenced surveys showing dissatisfaction with democracy. He concluded that strengthening decision-making was key to rebuilding trust.
“I think we should be looking to improve and find ways to enhance outcomes and partly strengthening our decision making in the right way, would be part of that,” he said.