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.
The Committee took evidence from, among others, the current Bishop, the Archbishop of York, and officials from the Church of England. In written evidence, the Archbishop said that removing the vote would “significantly undermine” the case for maintaining a separate Diocese of Sodor and Man, suggesting that the question would likely be revisited in any future review of diocesan boundaries, with one possible outcome being the absorption of the Island into an English diocese.
The Committee concluded as follows:
“We note that the position of the Bishop is very longstanding and the involvement of the postholder in the legislative work of Tynwald is evident since 1614 at the latest.
We note that sample testing of records of previous divisions shows that the Bishop’s vote, alongside that of four other Members of the Legislative Council, has been in opposition to the will of the Keys on few occasions.
We note that the consultation undertaken during the appointment process for the current Bishop of Sodor and Man included two public meetings, which gave residents the opportunity to express their views.
We recognise that some legislatures have reserved seats or appointed members although this is rare in relation to religious representation.
We conclude that the loss of the Bishop’s vote makes it likely that the Church of England will consider the future of a separate Diocese of Sodor and Man.”
The committee has deliberately made no recommendation either for or against the Bill.
Update: Manx Radio reports that an amendment which would have allowed the current Bishop to keep her vote until the end of her tenure was defeated in the Legislative Council by five votes to three. The proposer of the amendment, Gary Clueit MLC, said that he would bring the amendment back when the Bill reaches its final stage.
I am not sure the equation of legislative rôle in Tynwald and existence of the See wld be obvious to everyone?
We have covered these developments in a number of posts, which I have now added to the Index at https://lawandreligionuk.com/2022/09/12/church-and-state/#Sodor.
Possibly not – but, presumably, it is now.
If the diocese of Sodor and Man is subsumed into another diocese English diocese as has been suggested will happen if the Bishop’s seat and vote in Tynwald are lost, what would be the constitutional effect? The Church of England is the established church on the Isle of Man but this is not because the Church of England is the established church in England under English law but because the Isle of Man has its own ecclesiastical law, with primary law passed by Tynwald. While Manx ecclesiastical law is closely aligned with that of England, it is intentionally different to take account of the Isle of Man’s needs and separate legal system. The differences are important from the Isle of Man’s perspective, particularly as a small diocese in an independent and self legislating jurisdiction.
The cessation of Sodor and Man as a separate diocese, subject to the law of the Isle of Man could go to root of the Isle of Man’s ability to legislate for itself and its independence. There is the not insignificant matter for the diocese of its synod with parish representation and diocesan representation at General Synod. The Bishop holds many ex officio responsibilities that are subject to Manx law and accountability to Manx regulatory authorities.
In short, if the consequence of the Bishop losing the vote and seat (as some current members of Tynwald have openly said is their aim) the constitutional effects could be far reaching.