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Mec Vannin leads charge on nationality

No breach of human rights - Cabinet Office

Manx residents with roots in the UK and native Islanders share the same nationality - but have different rights as British citizens.

The position has been confirmed by the Cabinet Office, as debate continues over whether a Manx nationality should be declared.

Nationalist party Mec Vannin says residents classed as Manxmen are prohibited from living and working in EU member states, with the UK an exception.

However, anyone who has lived in the UK for at least five years, or has a parent or grandparent born there, has full privileges.

Mec Vannin claims the lack of EU entitlement for native Islanders breaches the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - and means Manxmen have no legal nationality. The group is urging Tynwald to introduce a Manx Nationality Act to address the issue.

The Cabinet Office has rejected claims of a human rights breach, insisting Manxmen are British in terms of legal nationality. 

But Mec Vannin's chairman Mark Kermode says the government can't have it both ways: 

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