States of Alderney États d'Aurigny (French) |
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Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Stuart Trought
Since 2011 |
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Structure | |
Seats | 10 |
Political groups
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Elections | |
Last election
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22 November 2014 |
Meeting place | |
States of Alderney Chamber | |
Website | |
www.alderney.gov.gg/ |
The States of Alderney (French: États d'Aurigny) is the parliament/council and the legislature of Alderney, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The origin of the States is unknown, but has operated from the mediaeval period. The States of Alderney comprises ten Members, and a President of the States of Alderney, currently Stuart Trought who was elected in 2010 to replace Sir Norman Browse who retired after eight years of presidency.
The States of Alderney includes ten members, half of whom have to stand for election every two years so that the entire parliament is changed over a period of four years. There is also a president who must stand for election every four years, although there is no constitutional limit on the number of terms they may serve. Routine government is performed by three committees, Policy and Finance, General Services, and Building and Development Control, each of which works under a different mandate and has a separate budget. Extra committees are usually formed in order to deal with specific areas of policy, such as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Management Committee. In addition, two members of the States are nominated as representatives to the Guernsey States of Deliberation.
The island is a self-governing Crown Dependency, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey since Elizabethan times. Certain services, known as 'transferred services' are provided in Alderney by the Guernsey Government under an agreement entered into between the States of Alderney and the States of Guernsey in 1948 ('the 1948 Agreement').
Defence and Foreign Policy are reserved to the Crown, which in modern constitutional terms means the relevant United Kingdom government (the Ministries of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The UK liaises with Alderney (as with all Crown Dependencies), through the Ministry of Justices. Formally, ultimate legislative, executive and judicial authority continues to vest in the Privy Council which approves all primary legislation passed by the States of Alderney, and through its Judicial Committee, is its highest court of appeal.