The Select Committee of Tynwald’s Legislative Council on the Isle of Man Constitution Bill 2023 has published its report. As regular readers will know, the Bill proposes the removal of the vote (but not the membership) of the Bishop of Sodor and Man in the Legislative Council. A public consultation earlier in the year received 2,890 responses – around 3.4 per cent of the population – with opinions almost evenly divided: 49 per cent in favour of keeping the Bishop’s vote and 51 per cent opposed.

The report notes that the Bishop’s place in Tynwald can be traced back at least as far as 1614 and has been continuous for most of the period since. However, it also notes that the presence of religious representatives in parliaments is now extremely rare internationally, with few equivalents beyond the House of Lords in the United Kingdom and the non-voting Dean in the States of Jersey.