Recently I had the great thrill of visiting the Tynwald – the Isle Of Man’s parliament.
The Isle Of Man is, of course, proudly a separate nation – a self-governing British Crown Dependency. Jersey has the same status, but there is something a little more accentuated about the Isle Of Man’s independence – the distinctive flag with the motto of the three legs, which is seen everywhere; much evidence of a separate historical narrative etc.
So, it was worth visiting the island just because of its independent status.
The Tynwald tour was very interesting – we were told about the make up of the tri-cameral system with its lack of party politics.
We were allowed to sit in the speaker’s chair in the House of Keys and I took the liberty of handling the gavel for my photo (see above).
We were reminded of the independence of the Isle Of Man because, when we were there, the last amendments to the Assisted Dying Bill were passed, reading for the bill to be given royal assent.
More widely, we really enjoyed our holiday on the Isle Of Man. There is so much to see from the amazing Castle Rushen to Norman Wisdom’s grave in the peaceful village of Bride. We will be going back, hopefully.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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One Comment
” a self-governing British Crown Dependency…. but there is something a little more accentuated about the Isle Of Man’s independence”
So the Isle of Man is an independent dependency? As is Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar etc.
Shouldn’t they all make up their minds? If they want to be British then, fair enough, we can give them some representation in the UK Parliament. This means that they have to abide by the same laws as the rest of us, including taxation laws.
What benefit do these “independent dependencies” bring to most of us in the rest of the UK? We all know about the tax benefits they can bring to the very wealthy of course!