The role of the Lord Bishop is a contentious topic in Tynwald and has been the source of much debate for hundreds of years. For some, the representative of the Church of England is seen as a voice of morality and ethics, who speaks for all faiths and is an important part of the fabric and history of Tynwald. Others see the bishop as a relic of when barons ruled the Isle of Man, with little democratic accountability and a lot of power in a time when religious representatives are something of an anomaly in parliaments around the world.
The Legislative Council Chamber, where the Lord Bishop sits as a member.
Right now the Bish’s posish is once again up for debate, with Leader of Manx Labour, Joney Faragher MHK having tabled a motion which will see the Bishop removed from the Legislative Council and by extension from Tynwald.
TL;DR;
We don’t think that the Lord Bishop should have a vote or a seat in Tynwald or the Legislative Council and would urge Tynwald members to support the motion.
Whilst there are a number of pressing matters affecting Tynwald and we would prefer to see a more holistic approach to reforming our parliament we believe that this motion will enhance the democratic legitimacy of Tynwald.
A bit of history:
The Lord Bishop can trace their position as part of Tynwald back over 400 years and for many centuries the Bishop was an important landowner or ‘baron’ on the Isle of Man, with a role on Lord’s Council from at least the 15th Century.
According to Edge and Pearce (2003), the first reference to the Bishop as a member of Tynwald comes from the statute book in 1637. The inclusion of the Bishop (as well as the Vicars General and the Archdeacon of the Isle of Man) as part of Tynwald was in line with what was happening in Great Britain, where the Monarch was a strong believer in religion as part of the business of government and the divine right of the King to rule.
Post revestment, church officers played an important but increasingly limited role in Tynwald, serving on boards, undertaking some judicial functions and representing the church's interests. However, their role as a representative of the Church of England sometimes brought them into conflict with the predominantly Methodist House of Keys of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Throughout the 19th century, the separate Diocese (church area) of Sodor and Man also became a focus of discussion within the church, with a repeated push to have it merged into Carlisle and Liverpool being met with resistance in the Isle of Man and ultimately failing.
As we’ve covered previously, in this period the Legislative Council became a focus of reform and during this time, lower-ranked church officers, such as the Vicars General and the Archdeacon lost much of their power and eventually their seats in favour of indirectly elected representatives 'elected' by the Keys.
Throughout the 20th century, there were several proposals to remove the Bishop from Tynwald, often as part of a broader package of constitutional changes.
Throughout the 20th century, there were several proposals to remove the Bishop from Tynwald, often as part of a broader package of constitutional changes. Despite this, and in the face of a massively reformed Council, the Bishop’s role has remained largely unchanged. (Edge and Pearce, 2003)
In the last few years, the topic of the Bishop’s role has once again been a source of discussion. Whilst the 2016 Lisvane Report did not propose any changes to the Bishop’s role, votes on the bishop have found their way into Tynwald 3 times in the last 6 years.
How is the bishop appointed:
The Lord Bishop is appointed by the monarch as the supreme governor of the Church of England on the recommendation of the UK Prime Minister.
The current Lord Bishop, The Right Reverend Peter Eagles MLC has served since 2017 and is set to retire in October 2023.
According to the current Bishop, the process includes, “a lengthy consultation period before anything really happens in terms of process. Out of that, from the Diocese, members are invited to apply to belong to the Crown Nominations Commission, which is the body that interviews and appoints bishops. Therefore, those who interviewed and appointed me for this role came in large part from the Isle of Man, they were resident here as worshipping members of the Diocese of Sodor and Man, and indeed within the interviews around this post, a large amount of the discussion had to do with the role in Tynwald.” (Tynwald Hansard, 2018)
However, Tynwald and the Isle of Man Government have no formal input on the process and unlike Bishops appointed in England, the Bishop of Sodor and Mann is not required to be formally elected by Canons of the Church of England.
Do they get paid?
The Lord Bishop does not receive a salary from Tynwald.
In line with other Church of England Bishops, the Lord Bishop receives a stipend of around £46,000 per year paid for by the Church. (Church of England, 2022)
Can they vote in Tynwald?
Yes. The Bishop is a voting member of Tynwald and is expected by convention to attend and vote, often on issues outside of what would be traditionally considered their remit as a representative of the Church.
What’s our position?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, we support the removal of the Lord Bishop from Tynwald for the following reasons:
The removal of the Bishop is in line with a majority of other parliaments around the world that do not have protected seats for religious representation.
Whilst the Church of England is the official church of the Isle of Man, as an increasingly diverse and secular nation we do not believe that a seat should be reserved for a religious representative.
Only 2 parliaments, other than the Isle of Man, have protected seats for religious officials as voting members, with the others being the UK and Iran.
The voting power of the Bishop is proportionally higher than the Bishops of the House of Lords with the Bishop representing 11% of the franchise in Tynwald, as compared to 3% in the House of Lords.
This is compounded by the fact that Tynwald convention requires the Bishop to ordinarily attend sittings and participate in votes.
The Bishop can affect political change in the Isle of Man but lacks a mandate.
The Bishop is appointed by a very different process to other members of Tynwald, Civil Servants, Crown Officers and members of the Manx Judiciary and does not hold a traditional mandate from the public.
Instead, The Bishop is chosen by an English appointments commission and is recommended by the UK Prime Minister,
Whilst members of the Manx Church of England congregation do form part of the selection process, this franchise is small and by its very nature exclusionary.
The 2021 Census indicated that Christians remain the largest religious group in the Isle of Man, the data does not provide details of the numbers who identify as Church of England. (Isle of Man Government, 2021)
According to the 2020 Statistics for Mission report from the Church of England, the combined weekly attendance of church services for adults and children was 1400 and for Sunday services was 1300, with the worshipping population in 2019 being 1700 or around 2% of the Manx population.
Some have argued that the Bishop speaks for “speaks for all faith communities on the Island” (p.36, Lisvane, 2016) however, this statement remains unsubstantiated, aside from anecdotal evidence and other faith communities' participation in the Bishop’s selection process is unclear.
Whilst the House of Keys can overrule the Legislative Council, research from Professor Peter Edge and Dr Argar Pearce found that between 1961 and 2001 on 53 occasions the Lord Bishop’s vote was critical in a political decision.
Whilst Lisvane notes that “In his eight years on the Legislative Council the Bishop recalled very occasionally casting a decisive vote, but not on any matter of significance.” there is no clarification given on what was considered ‘significant.’ (p.36, Lisvane, 2016)
The historical argument for the retention of the Bishop does not hold weight.
The process of removal of appointed members of Tynwald began in the early 20th century.
Tynwald has never remained a static institution and has regularly changed its composition and replaced unelected* members. This has included the removal of other church officers from the Legislative Council, the Lt Governor, Deemsters and the restriction of the Attorney General to a non-voting member.
We see the removal of the Bishop as a continuation of that process.
We do not believe that without the Bishop, Legislative Council would become ‘morally defective’ or that an understanding of ethics is a rationale for their retention.
Whilst often considered to be a strong reason for the continuing presence of the Bishop we, and the current Lord Bishop, do not agree with this argument. (Tynwald Hansard, 2018)
Whilst some may question the behaviour of Tynwald, members are already bound by a Code of Conduct which holds them to moral and ethical standards. (Tynwald Standing Orders, 2022)
The Bishop is not required to lead the development of legislation related to the Church of England through Tynwald.
The current Bishop does not sit on the Tynwald Ecclesiastical Committee, which is responsible for legislation related to the church.
Whilst the Bishop has provided members’ briefings on specific issues related to the church, this function could be discharged through a Memorandum of Understanding if necessary.
There are significant time pressures on a member of the Council.
The role of a Member of the Legislative Council is time-consuming.
Whilst many members have commented on previous and current Bishop’s dedication and commitment to the role of Legislative Councillor, by the former Lord Bishop’s admission to Lord Lisvane in 2016 there can be difficulty in balancing their duties to the church with responsibilities in Tynwald. (1630, Lisvane, 2016)
We do not believe that Tynwald should hold the potential disestablishment of the Diocese of Sodor and Man as a determining factor in the decision as to whether the Bishop should retain their seat.
Internal structures of the church should not be a concern of Tynwald and a matter for the Archbishop of York and the broader Church of England to decide as noted by members of Tynwald in previous debates (Tynwald Hansard, 2018).
The practicality of maintaining a separate Diocese for a small population and congregation has been of concern to the Church of England for some time, separate from that of the role of the Lord Bishop.
Both Jersey and Guernsey’s relationship with the Church of England is maintained through an English Diocese.
We believe that it is appropriate to take this action now as the current bishop retires and we are midway through the current term of Tynwald.
We believe that any changes to the membership of Tynwald should look at the entire body of both chambers.
Whilst we welcome this vote on the Bishop’s role we believe there are other internal constitutional issues which need to be addressed and we encourage a holistic approach to reform.
We should, where possible look to increase the democratic legitimacy and accountability of our parliament.
We support a comprehensive review of the structures, membership and functioning of Tynwald.
The vote is set to take place during the next sitting of Tynwald on the 20th June.
If you have an opinion on whether the Bishop should remain a member we would encourage you to contact your MHK or any of the MLCs ahead of the vote. You can find information about who your representatives are here. Contact details for both MHKs and MLCs can be found here.
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