Another had spent the previous couple of nights reading and researching into the early hours. I knew that some MHKs had been studying the Bill and had meetings with constituents. At least one of the MHKs opened his envelope and said words to the effect of "now then, what are we being asked to look at today". I was disgusted, nay I will rephrase that, fucking disgusted, to sit through one such sitting where Manx law was before the Keys (ie not something lifted from the UK where it might reasonably be nodded through). This is a vital stage of legislation - which is the primary function of the House of Keys as legislators - as not only are the clauses looked at and considered, the debate provides future users of the law and indeed the courts, to see the intention of the law should that be necessary for interpretation. Each clause is presented and before it is voted through can be debated and amended if necessary. I would urge anyone to go along to a House of Keys session where the Clauses stage of new legislation is on the agenda. What is also interesting though is the question Albert implies - what do departmental members do for their extra cash? As it happens Zac Hall seems to do more of these actions than most, so I'm sure he'll keep busy. What they should be doing is considerable of course: examining the Bills that are to be proposed, consulting with experts on the subject, maybe drafting amendments reading government reports (including ones in the archive) to understand what is going on or should be in various parts of the administration doing other research to understand the topics you are looking at comparing how things are done in the Isle of Man with other places to see what to do and not to do finding out what your constituents feel about certain topics putting down questions in Keys and Tynwald to find out what is going on and using the information (or the even more informative lack of it).īut there is no obligation on MHKs to do any of these things - all they need to do is turn up for meetings of Tynwald and the Keys. Similarly the number of 'constituency engagements' can't be that great. There's constituency casework, but given the size of Keys constituencies compared to those in the UK say, that can't be much. It's a good question - effectively is being an MHK a full-time job? Certainly there's maybe a couple of days total for meetings a month, maybe more if you're involved in committees. If he's not in Government what is he doing all day.
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