The traditional Tynwald Day ceremony has been scaled back with many aspects cancelled this year.

Tynwald president Steve Rodan said planning is under way for a modified ceremony which will have no public or off-island participation.

It’s a move unprecedented in the island’s recent history.

Detailed plans are being drawn up on the basis that restrictions on movement and public gatherings in response to the Covid-19 outbreak may still be in place on Monday July 6.

The plans will look at how essential constitutional functions of the ceremony can be maintained.

These include the swearing in of coroners, the promulgation and captioning of Acts, the presentation of petitions and the carrying forward of unfinished Keys business to the next legislative year.

However, the Tynwald ceremony arrangements committee has decided to cancel traditional elements that involve the participation of the general Manx public and visitors from off-island.

These include the Tynwald Fair and the programme of enhancements and public entertainment before and after the ceremony. Also cancelled is the attendance of a military guard of honour and band and visits by VIP guests from the UK and further afield.

The Tynwald Day ceremony went ahead during the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2001 and even during the Second World War. But the whole ceremony was cancelled in 1918 following a general strike called when Lord Raglan ended the subsidy on bread.