What have your MHKs promised you? Onchan

Dr Rachel Glover and Rob Callister were elected 

Onchan returned two MHKs on 24 September 2026: and Dr Rachel Glover, who topped the poll, and Rob Callister, who came second. 

Mr Callister is a ten-year incumbent and former Health Minister. Dr Glover is a first-time candidate — a PhD scientist who set up the Island's COVID testing lab in 2020.

But what have your MHKs promised you?

Housing

Mr Callister pointed to his record as chair of planning, where he supported approval of more than 650 new homes since November 2023. He pledged to support around 1,500 affordable homes over the next decade, including at least 500 for first-time buyers and 250–300 social housing properties and to push for 35 per cent affordable housing on greenfield sites and 10 per cent on brownfield.

Dr Glover wanted a Land Registry amendment to record how many properties are bought by non-residents, companies or owner-occupiers and said she would push for residency and owner-occupier requirements if the data showed non-residents were buying for investment only. 

She also wanted a published register of Government-owned land suitable for housing, no buying out of affordable housing obligations, and the definition of "affordable" linked to median Manx earnings. She backed a mandatory deposit protection scheme and independent arbitration for tenant-landlord disputes.

Energy

Mr Callister said he could not support an offshore wind farm in Manx territorial waters unless it delivered clear, lasting benefits for residents and businesses. 

He pledged to oppose any development that exported all its electricity to the UK without direct benefits beyond Treasury revenue, and called for the full evidence base to be published and any decision debated in Tynwald. He supported a full independent assessment of Western Link 2 and backed local renewable investment and home energy grants. In his interview, he distinguished between exporting all electricity to the UK, which he opposed, and an option connecting some power into the Manx grid, which he said the public deserved to see detail on.

Dr Glover said she was genuinely undecided on Mooir Vannin. She described herself as strongly pro-renewable, but said there were still no agreed Heads of Terms with Orsted, so there was no contract on which anyone could judge what the Island stood to gain. If the project were approved, she wanted a genuine Manx dividend: a significant share of energy at no wholesale cost to Island consumers, the community benefit fund, seabed rental, and fair taxation on power exported to the UK.

Government Reform

Mr Callister pledged to strengthen scrutiny of major projects, publish the evidence behind key decisions, reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and build a stronger partnership between government and the people. He said reform was not about cutting services but about better outcomes and value for money. He also said he had lobbied for an appeals process after his own Tynwald standards investigation in 2023, and had worked to improve whistleblowing protections.

Dr Glover argued Government was spending more than it raised and funding the gap from reserves. She wanted an assessment of cross-department duplication, savings from back-office functions rather than frontline services, greater use of AI for routine work, and Government headcount to come down significantly — with retraining and redeployment funded first. She also proposed that civil servants record their time on projects, and said she would bring back the one Tynwald reform recommendation that failed to pass: publishing the business cases behind spending decisions.

The Economy

Mr Callister said the economy was built on partnership between government and business, with government providing stability, infrastructure, skills and fair regulation. He identified four business needs: certainty, skills, investment and opportunities for growth. His pledges included reducing bureaucracy, investing in apprenticeships, encouraging innovation in technology and clean energy, and delivering infrastructure. In his interview, he defended shielding customers from the energy crisis as Chair of Manx Utilities, saying he had helped reduce a proposed 100 per cent electricity tariff rise to 70 per cent.

Dr Glover said the economy had been shrinking while Government produced strategy after strategy. She cited GDP contracting 7.4 per cent in the two years to March 2024, and said the Island had traded its natural agility for UK-style reviews and consultations. She wanted frictions removed for businesses locating here, action on the payments infrastructure gap — specifically access to Stripe — and "exit interviews" with businesses that had left, reported to Tynwald annually. She noted around 1,000 jobs had gone from financial services, eGaming, manufacturing and tourism.

Education

Mr Callister pledged to improve support for Additional Educational Needs, tackle educational disadvantage, expand apprenticeships and vocational pathways, strengthen links between education and employers, and enhance digital, technical, financial and life skills education.

Dr Glover focused on accountability. She argued parents could not see how Manx students compared with those in England, despite sitting the same exams marked by the same bodies. She pledged to push for exam results to be published annually in a form comparable with UK data, and for whatever replaced external validation to produce findings a parent could read about their own school. She also proposed Health and Social Care Apprenticeships as a paid route for school leavers into nursing and allied professions, and highlighted the collapse in entry-level jobs.

Steam Packet and Connectivity

Mr Callister said the 2018 decision to buy the Steam Packet was the most important of that administration, but that he did not think £80 million should have been spent on one boat. He wanted the Steam Packet pushed on yield, with 60–70 per cent capacity required on every sailing, more transparency on discounted tickets and a costs review. He said he would ask the next administration to consider capping Steam Packet profit if inflation and costs rose again, with support passed on to customers.

On connectivity, Dr Glover focused on the airport, noting other airports had moved to next-generation scanners and the Isle of Man had not  and that no plan or cost had been published for when it would have to install them. She described it as a multi-million pound bill coming whether the Island planned for it or not.

Local Government

Mr Callister pledged to hold government accountable for improvements to traffic management, parking, key junctions, bus services and local infrastructure in Onchan and to ensure more road tax revenue went into roads and pavements. 

He also pledged to work with residents, Commissioners and community groups on the Onchan 15-Year Roadmap, and to promote fairer social housing policies, higher maintenance standards and a stronger voice for tenants. In his interview, he said the Island collected around £14 million in road tax but spent only around £6 million and wanted to ring-fence it for five years.

Dr Glover did not set out a detailed local government position. Her Onchan campaigning focused on doorstep engagement she said she opened with questions about burning issues and ran website surveys on traffic safety, roads and antisocial behaviour.