OVER recent weeks and in this newspaper today, prominent local legal figures have been examining aspects of our constitutional relationship with the UK and making suggestions about its future development.

While the spur for those considerations has varied – from legislation being blocked to yet another financial review being imposed – there is a common thread to them.

In essence, while no one seriously wants to sever or damage the 800-year-old links we have with the Crown, there is a debate to be had about the extent to which these islands wish to paddle their own canoe.

These are, of course, complex areas. An indication is that although Collas Day consultant Paul Ardetti’s piece here today appears to contradict an earlier article from Advocate Gordon Dawes, they make essentially the same point.

If a large element of Guernsey’s independence is founded on its ability to make its own laws, why is it so beholden to a UK Government department to decide whether they are fit to be implemented?

Whether the final scrutiny and approval of legislation should rest with the Ministry of Justice, the Privy Council or some appropriate insular body is clearly a key debate triggered, if for no other reason, by the signing of the International Identity Framework Document, which seeks to develop the international identity of the island.

As advocate and former States member Roger Perrot sets out here, also today, it is all about taking responsibility. If mistakes are made, they should be our mistakes.

Loyalty to the Crown is one thing – and is very probably unwavering. Answering to faceless UK bureaucrats or politicians with no democratic accountability in these islands is quite another.

Add to that the UK’s clearly emerging agenda of hostility towards its own dependencies, notwithstanding the framework commitment that the UK and Guernsey will work together to resolve or clarify any differences which may arise between their respective interests, and it is clear that the old relationship needs re-examination.

Put simply, when legislation essential to this community’s governance receives royal assent, should that be on the basis of advice from Guernsey’s ministers or those from Westminster?