A majority of one could be enough for the Keys to remove a future Chief Minister, if a Private Member’s Bill proves successful.

Garff MHK Daphne Caine was this week given leave to introduce her Bill which would see the number of MHKs required to support a vote of no confidence decrease.

Under the current Council of Ministers Act 1990, it requires two thirds of MHKs (16) to oust a Chief Minister. However, Mrs Caine (pictured) wants to see this reduced to a simple majority, meaning 13 MHKs could remove him/her from power.

Mrs Caine said her Bill would ’remove an anomaly’ in the process of removing a Chief Minister from office, but that her Bill does not have anything to do with the current Chief Minister, Howard Quayle.

She told the Keys: ’Surely if the head of government has lost the support of a majority of members, then by continuing in office, his or her government would lose all credibility.

’If members felt strongly about this, then every government motion could be opposed by the 13, 14 or 15 members who voted against him or her. If the concern relates to the stability of our government, there are other ways this could be addressed.’

Mrs Caine said she has looked at ’comparable’ jurisdictions and relied on the research of Professor Peter Edge who said only the Cayman Islands also requires a two-thirds majority to remove a leader.

However, the Cayman Islands does not have the departmental system of ’consensus government’ that exists in the island.

Her Bill was seconded by Julie Edge (Onchan) and MHKs gave their unanimous support to grant Mrs Caine leave to introduce her Bill for its first reading. Only Chris Thomas (Douglas Central) spoke in support of the Bill as all others remained seated.