More than one in three petitions for redress of grievance presented on Tynwald Day this year have been ruled out of order, according to a report from Tynwald’s Standing Orders Committee.

A total of 36 petitions were submitted during the annual ceremony at St John’s on Monday, July 6, with 13 found not to meet the requirements to proceed.

The traditional process allows members of the public to present petitions directly to the Lieutenant Governor, and if deemed to be in order, they can then be considered by Tynwald if an MHK chooses to take them forward.

It’s a centuries-old democratic tradition allowing people to directly petition Tynwald to raise concerns, highlight grievances or call for change, through either public petitions or petitions for redress.

A report on the petitions will be laid before Tynwald during its October sitting.

The rules surrounding petitions were changed in 2024, meaning petitioners no longer need to demonstrate a ‘personal grievance’ in order to raise an issue affecting the wider community.

However, the Standing Orders Committee has ruled several submissions this year were not in order.

The largest number of rejected petitions came from regular petitioner Trevor Cowin, who submitted 11 petitions this year.

Of those, nine were ruled out of order, including petitions relating to interested person status, complaints involving the Tynwald Commissioner for Administration and Information Commissioner, and previous petitions submitted in 2020, 2022 and 2023.

Mr Cowin did have two petitions accepted, relating to Glenfaba House and the public speaking scheme.

A petition submitted by anti-vaccine campaigner Courtenay Heading calling for an investigation into the scientific basis of virus isolation, PCR testing and evidence for disease transmission was also ruled out of order.

Former MHK Stephen Holmes’ petition relating to family court proceedings was also rejected, while a petition from Arwid Hall concerning public procurement did not meet the committee’s requirements.

Meanwhile, a petition submitted by Peel campaigners against offshore wind development was ruled out of order.

Ian Strafford and Georgina O’Sullivan had presented the petition on behalf of more than 9,000 people who had signed against the proposed Mooir Vannin offshore wind farm.

The pair had called for a review of the Government’s policy on leasing the island’s seabed for offshore wind development but said they were unable to refer directly to the project under the petition rules.

A number of other high-profile petitions were accepted, including Simon Mann’s call for a Gift Aid-style scheme for charities and churches, Sean Bostrom’s petition calling for a ban on disposable barbecues, and Martyn Perkins’ request for a review of the Onchan and Garff boundary.

Other petitions accepted included calls for changes to family court procedures, safeguarding improvements, beekeeping regulations, music rights reporting and the future of the CinemaNX model.

The full findings of the Standing Orders Committee will now be considered by Tynwald during its October sitting.