Uk Election And The Soon To Come

[lisner]

The number of people eligible to vote in the Isle of Man is a little over 47,000.

 

The UK’s largest electoral constituency is the Isle of White with 104,000. The smallest being the Western Isles with nearly 21,900. So the Island sits comfortably somewhere in between.

 

And yet the UK constituencies have only a single representative in Parliament.

 

Compare this with the number of elected (and non-elected) politicians the Island has – over 30! It hardly bears thinking about. So many people pompously swaggering about politically leading us.

 

I would not suggest, even hypothetically, that the Island be made a constituency of the UK, but there is an indication of mis-proportion here.

 

Is our system value for money?

Is it serving us well?

Is the system efficient?

 

Add to the number of Tynwald politicians, the huge bustle of local Commissioners and Councillors and it becomes clear that our Island is top heavy with leaders. You will see many of them regaled and dressed up – some in very fancy dress too – on Tynwald Day. (Note that only the Chairman of the local authorities 'do the walk').

 

But maybe the big number helps to dilute the contents in the ample bottle of ego that seems to be going about - you only have to hear some of them speaking on the radio or read the papers to see some of them have had a wee bit too much of their share of the elixir.

 

The forth coming UK election will hopefully be a good taster for our own election next year.

 

I hope the election brings in some much needed changes. It is about now that these things should be considered.

 

 

(ps I know this is not International Politics but it seemed more appropriate here)

[Ripsaw]

Whether you are a country of 60 million or 76,000 you need elected officials to look after similar needs. It is the number of needs that dictates how many officials as much as the population numbers.

 

Each UK area may have one representative in Westminster, but they still have 10s of thousands making up their local and county councils to administer the services.

 

The Island's Parliament is made of of geographical representatives and there is a lot of dead wood costing us taxpayers money. If only for historical reasons I can not see the current methods changing and bear in mind that any MHK may have 2 or 3 chairmanships to handle.

 

I do think that there are too many layers of beurocracy on the Island and many services would run more efficiently and cost effectively if adminisered by one board nationally rather than by several locally. How many times in an average lifetime do many of the services need completely reconfiguring? I would guess that for most of them it is just once, and then it is a case of supervision which doesn't always need to be done by several people scattered around the Island.

 

Local and National Government is quite simply, run inefficiently which actually suits many of those involved as it 'justifies' them being a drain on funds. Many of them (if not the majority) wouldn't have a clue in the private sector.

[Rog]

Each UK area may have one representative in Westminster, but they still have 10s of thousands making up their local and county councils to administer the services.

 

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<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Er, actually no. I'll search around and find out how many we have in the constituency that I live in but there's no way it's tens of thousands and for the most part they are only paid expenses and not a salary.

 

lisner is 100% correct. The whole system needs overhaul especially with the endemic and instititionalisedf corruption that is so self evident and exposed in the MM issue as just a classic example of the general rule.

[Ripsaw]

Er, actually no.  I'll search around and find out how many we have in the constituency that I live in but there's no way it's tens of thousands and for the most part they are only paid expenses and not a salary.

Badly worded by me perhaps?

 

The elected ones may be on expenses and not total 10's of thousands, but there are plenty more fully employed administrators behind the scenes *nationally* that would be included in the dupliction of duties figures. I did have an S on the end of 'councils'.

 

That was my reference... 300 MPs don't run the entire UK, there are 10s of thousands more behind the scenes.

 

Which translated to this Island still means that there is too much dead wood over here looking after their own interests at our expense.

[Paul H]

Too many MHKs compared with MPs perhaps, but does the U.K share a similar ratio of government employed workers that we seem to have here? I would find it hard to imagine the British Government being the countries biggest employer? Maybe we are inefficient at the top and it runs right through our government’s administration?

 

I wouldn't have a problem with this if I felt we were getting value for money out of our government and public services, but I think we could be better off if public funds were spent more cautiously.

[Rog]

Biggest employer in the UK – NHS. With a total of 1.3 MILLION heads.

 

PLUS

 

Civil Service (UK) approx 534,000 heads of which some 11,000 casual staff.

 

But then, the IOM benefits a very great deal from the supporting infrastructure of The Mainland.

[Fatty Fatty Toad Boy]

The NHS is the 3rd largest employer in the world (behind the Indian Railways and the Chinese Red Army).

[Paul H]

The NHS is the 3rd largest employer in the world (behind the Indian Railways and the Chinese Red Army).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wow, so the NHS is way up there with the Indian Railway and the Chinese Red Army. I apologies for not realizing this! U.K with so many sick people!! It's a wonder there is anyone fit enough to go to work at all?

 

Good job tax is so high or the government couldn't afford to pay for all that health care.

[Fatty Fatty Toad Boy]

I would find it hard to imagine the British Government being the countries biggest employer?

Still finding it hard, eh?

 

... but does the U.K share a similar ratio of government employed workers that we seem to have here?

It's been recently reported that the UK public sector employs 20% of the working population (and this figure is rising). Anyone know what the figure is on the Island?

[Skig]

But then, the IOM benefits a very great deal from the supporting infrastructure of The Mainland.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The Isle of Man is the mainland. Do you mean the IOM benefits from the UK ?

[Rog]

But then, the IOM benefits a very great deal from the supporting infrastructure of The Mainland.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The Isle of Man is the mainland. Do you mean the IOM benefits from the UK ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes.

[shamus]

Since Scotland has been allowed its own parliament with limited powers they nevertheless seem to look after their elderly and infirm better than England. And students (with no tuition fees).

 

One would think that the Isle of Man equally could but we do not.

 

The wealth on this island is vast but the distribution and social care of our small Island community is a complete joke!

 

Collectively I think Tynwald is a bunch of selfish extreme right wing facists!

 

Edited for spelling and to add.....

 

The grace and favour politics of our parliamentary system is a laughing stock as Roly Drower intimated in his new year speech at the Illiam Dhone Ceremony and this view was re-inforced by the complete rubbish that Anne Craine MHK for Ramsey spoke recently on Manx Radio regarding the election of MLCs.

 

Isle of Man democracy? Ha ha ha, a joke!

 

As Roly said...."Do not do it Jersey!"

[Ripsaw]

They can not be 'independat' in the the true sense of the meaning as there is a lot of dependency on 'helping' each other.

 

Still better than Party Politics although at least with PP, you know ho is going to agree with who from one week to the next (alledgedly).

[Rog]

But with REAL Party Politics if there is a bad egg then it is in the interest of the party to sling him out. Also there can be Party agenda disclosed in a Manifesto which the Party can be held to task over.

 

I wonder how long Ned would have been allowed to remain in post if he had been a member of a Party – not long is my guess.

 

Having blown hot and cold on Party Politics for years I finally came down on Party Politics being the least worst system of all though with elections based on proportion representation and meaningful residential qualifications being required for candidates.

[Ripsaw]

If we had PP though in what is a Parliament of 24, how many parties would there be? 2,3,4??

 

You could simply end up with two or three parties of 4 members and a further three or four parties with two or even one member.

 

If there were only two or three parties to chose from, then that generally means only 2 or 3 opinions on given subjects, at the moment there are 24*

 

For all their faults, the current MLC elections are good for democracy (in my opinion) 2 candidates, neither able to collect 13 votes, ie, not supported by ther majority and thus do not succede. "Neither suitable" as opposed to "the lesser of the worst". PP would probably put one of them in even though we can clearly see a lack of confidence in the current method.

 

It could be countered by allowing individuals to vote on subject and not by the 'party line' but that just puts us back to where we already are, independants.

 

I'm not opposed to PP per se, but for the reasons given above (mainly numbers) I couldn't see it working despite the massive amount of time and (inevitabley) money that it would take to change the system.

 

 

* Assuming that all 24 are blessed with the ability to think.