'The dying hours of this parliament were an unedifying spectacle'

The dying hours of this parliament were an unedifying spectacle.

Many members themselves acknowledged that the end to this final sitting of Tynwald before the general election was not their finest moment.

For three hours they tied themselves up in knots - one of them close to tears - over whether they should censure a colleague over comments made outside the chamber.

It culminated, bizarrely, with the question of whether the vote could be held at all.

A call for a combined vote meant the censure motion would have had to have been held over until after the general election.

The vote did in the end go ahead and Glenfaba and Peel MHK Kate Lord-Brennan avoided censure over her Facebook comments about the ‘malevolent’ actions of Ramsey member Lawrie Hooper.

In many ways this symbolised what has gone wrong with this parliament and how it has all too often focused on things of very little relevance to the wider public.

How big an election issue in 2021 was the Bishop’s vote or even Assisted Dying?

Yet hours upon hours of parliamentary time have been taken up on these matters, at the expense perhaps to issues more pressing to island residents.

And the censure debate itself illustrates another problem, one of the law of unintended consequences.

Last year members had approved a change to standing orders preventing them from using social media to bully or harass another person.

Its intentions were laudable - but its effect, arguably, was to restrict freedom of speech and public challenge outside the confines of the Tynwald chamber.

During the debate, some members expressed frustration that their hands were tied by the new rules and they would have no choice but to vote for something they didn’t agree with.

Perhaps they should have thought about the consequences before voting through the changes to standing orders.