07/06/26 : Who holds the purse strings?

In December 2024, Tynwald agreed to set up an internal committee to look at how our budget is set and agreed. In 2026, the report came back. It essentially confirmed that by the time ‘The Budget’ is debated in Tynwald the big decisions have mostly already been made. The report notes that the laws which govern this process give Treasury and CoMin significant authority, but say very little about how the process should actually be carried out (especially with regard to the will of the public), or about who is accountable.

The report clarifies that the process is mostly confidential, rushed, and exempt from amendment by the time it reaches Tynwald – it is an all-or-nothing deal - a gun to the head. Our elected representatives are basically forced into agreement, or risk being the ‘boat rockers’. Clearly, that is not a good basis for the best outcomes. The report notes that all of this effectively puts the IOM well below international standards, and that once the budget is agreed there is very little in the way of accurate reporting as to how it is implemented. The report made 25 recommendations for improvement.

In May 2026, the Council of Ministers responded. The majority of the recommendations – specifically all of those that would have addressed the valid concerns raised – were rejected. They were rejected mostly on the basis that implementation would represent too significant a change at that point in the administration, and that the proposed schedule was too optimistic. The response also suggested that the report should have recognised the ‘success’ of the current process over many years. This is a process which has been running a £100m+ budget deficit (eating into the growth of our reserves) for over 14 years, whilst prioritising numerous unpopular capital schemes. And so, the chance of any improvement or change in the way the most significant decisions are made by government was firmly kicked into the long grass. Someone else’s problem. Our problem. Only a fundamental change in the way government operates will allow this bull to be taken by the horns.

https://tynwald.org.im/spfile?file=/business/opqp/sittings/20212026/2026-PP-0060.pdf

https://tynwald.org.im/index.php/spfile?file=/business/opqp/sittings/20212026/2026-GD-0059.pdf