Has IWV broken the parish link?
RATHER disappointingly, when the Scrutiny Management Committee announced its call for evidence as part of a planned review of island-wide voting, it was quick to make clear that nothing that it would hear would influence any changes to the planned 2025 election.
Because it is clear that once again islanders will almost certainly be seeking an electoral shake-up when they next go to the polls, probably in personnel, if not process.
But is it right that they should be doing so to elect politicians with an island-wide mandate – or as the Vale parish might see it, no particular mandate at all?
Parish authorities in the Vale, always recognised as a politically-interested parish, have told Scrutiny that they believe that island-wide voting has not improved the standard of political representation, and has done much to break up the traditional parish link with government.
The lack of parish engagement – a stronghold throughout more than a century of political representation – is a matter of regret. It has cheapened the role of the douzaines and douzeniers in island life, and the occasional highlighting of a potential link between parish and state never seems to go anywhere fast.
And with party politics seemingly broken to a point of no return, focus on ‘standards’ and accountability of candidates should attract an enhanced focus in the months and years to come.