Time for the Bailiff to go?

Tuesday 24 May 2016

More than 15 years after a report first recommended that the Island’s top judge should not sit in the States Chamber, Deputy Montfort Tadier is taking the question to the States.

He says that politicians should follow the UK model of electing a “Speaker” to preside over States sittings and enforce the rules, instead of keeping the Bailiff in the House.

There have been several debates about the Bailiff’s role in the States over the last few years, ever since the 2000 Clothier Review concluded that the chief judge should be removed from the legislature. Although politicians have stuck with the status quo, Chief Minister Ian Gorst has now come around to the idea of removing the Bailiff and having an elected speaker.

Deputy Tadier’s proposition was lodged this morning, and is listed for debate on 28 June.

If successful, the proposition would remove the Bailiff from the States role by 1 January 2018, maintain the Bailiff’s role as the “civic head” of the Island and elect a Speaker from the elected States Members no later than the last sitting of 2017.

In the report accompanying his proposition, Deputy Tadier wrote: “We know from experience that reform (constitutional or electoral) is slow, if it ever happens at all.

“The date of 2018 will not be soon enough for some, especially those who see these changes as already being three centuries overdue; however, it does seek to allow sufficient time for transitional arrangements to be put into place.

“Moreover, it would ensure that changes are brought in during this term of office and well in time for the new Assembly which will be elected in May 2018.”