Campaigners from the three Crown Dependencies have petitioned the Privy Council to be allowed to vote in the UK referendum on EU membership.
An online petition on the subject by Lord of the Rings actor John Rhys-Davies has attracted just 1,450 signatures - far short of the 10,000 needed for Westminster to respond or the 100,000 requires to prompt a debate in the House of Commons.
But those behind the campaign insist it is gaining support across all three Crown Dependencies.
Chief Minister Allan Bell says that as the Isle of Man is not part of the UK or the EU, we have no automatic right to participate in a referendum in another country.
But the campaigners say they are aggrieved that the governments of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man have not requested to be included in the UK and Gibraltar’s Referendum on the UK’s EU membership.
In their petition to Her Majesty the Queen in Privy Council, they wrote: ‘We had no idea that we had been left out of this very important referendum, and this terrible omission by our governments has only recently come to light.
‘Our Chief Ministers had no right and no mandate to exclude us from the right to vote in this extremely important referendum.
‘This issue has not had full and proper consideration at our respective ministerial levels, it has not been debated in our parliaments, and our governments have not consulted with their citizens in any way at all on this.
‘Indeed the decision to not ask to be included in the referendum has effectively been made by a cabal in each of our jurisdictions, in a non-democratic manner. We earnestly implore the Privy Council to support our plea for democratic decision making in our jurisdictions.’
The petitioners - Ballasalla resident Eddie Power, former States of Guernsey member Anthony Webber and Christina Morgan – claim there has been a ‘major failure of good governance’ by the Chief Ministers.
They add: ‘We therefore implore the Privy Council to exercise its good governance responsibilities for the Crown Dependencies and take the relevant measures to ensure the inclusion of our citizens in the referendum vote. We, the British citizens of the Crown Dependencies are British people, who should be able to have our “final and decisive say”.’
The Manx government has denied that the Crown Dependencies had been invited to join the EU referendum but turned down the offer. Neither had the three island asked to join the referendum.
A report is being drawn up on the implications for the Isle of Man if the UK votes for ‘Brexit’. The report for the Council of Ministers will consider options under any new relationship the UK establishes with the EU should there be a vote in favour of leaving, such as a free trade agreement or customs union.