The second reading of a bill that would remove the Bishop's Tynwald vote has received support in today's House of Keys sitting.

The MHKs present backed the bill, with 14 votes for as opposed to nine against.

Those who voted for the bill were Mrs Corlett, Dr Allinson, Mr Ashford, Mrs Barber, Mrs Caine, Mr Crookall, Ms Faragher, Dr Haywood, Mr Hooper, Mr Johnston, Mrs Maltby, Mr Peters, Mrs Poole-Wilson and Mr Skelly.

The nine who voted against the bill were Mr Callister, Mr Cannan, Mrs Christian, Mr Glover, Ms Lord-Brennan, Mr Moorhouse, Mr Smith, Mr Thomas and Mr Wannenburgh.

Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper downplayed concerns over the Legislative Council's vote decreasing from nine to eight members.

He dismissed that this would make it hard for the Council to function, saying: 'The conversation around numbers is quite an interesting one.

'A majority of nine is five and a majority of eight is still five. A supermajority in both cases would be five or six.

'There's still three people you can lose which wouldn't make a difference. That's the way maths works.

'So there are three people you can lose when you have nine members and you need a majority of six. There are three people you can lose when you have eight members and you need a majority of five. The number three is consistent and there is in fact no real change.'