An independent panel established by the Constitution Committee of the Board of Deputies has reached a decision, following the appeal of 36 Deputies who signed a letter in the Financial Times in April 2025.
This final decision of the Appeal Panel follows a review of all the original materials and the responses submitted by the signatories of the letter.
In summary:
- The Appeal Panel has upheld the decision to issue a notice of criticism to 31 Deputies who signed the letter but did nothing more to promote it.
- The Appeal Panel has upheld the findings that five Deputies exacerbated the breach of the Code of Conduct with additional steps that promoted the letter.
- The Appeal Panel has imposed a suspension from the Board’s activities for eighteen months on these five, along with removal where applicable from additional elected positions within the Board. This is shortened from the original proposed sanction of two years suspension.
- In the case of four of those Deputies (one of whom has since resigned from the Board) the suspension can be reduced to six months if the Deputy makes a suitable apology to the Board by the end of this month.
- In line with the original panel, the Appeal Panel emphasised that Deputies have the right to represent their individual views and those of their communities freely. The breaches of the Code of Conduct did not refer to content of the letter but the way the signatories promoted it.
This is the final decision, as no further appeal is allowed under the Board of Deputies constitution.
Additional Notes