In this guest post for Reayrtys, new research by Professor Roland Brandtjen from the IU International University of Applied Sciences in Germany shows results which indicate strong Manx desire for increased degree of autonomy. Professor Brandtjen writes:

The Isle of Man is an exciting place in terms of international law.
Not an independent state, not an autonomous region, but a Crown dependency and above all not part of the UK. I have been conducting annual surveys on the Isle of Man (and other countries) since 2019. Current analysis shows that the majority (around 70 %) of Manx participants want more autonomy and even complete independence for their island. Only a few were in favour of the current status or less autonomy and more integration.
Even if the stated desire for complete independence of the Isle of Man has diminished slightly over the years, around one third of the participants still want independence. The desire for more Manx autonomy has risen slightly over the years and is more than one third of the participants. Maintaining the current status has hardly increased noticeably over the years on the isle of man and corresponds to the wish of around a quarter of the participants.
Finally, on average one in 20 respondents wanted even less autonomy and more integration into the United Kingdom as a British Municipality.

Across my research we find that the strength of support (or opposition) to greater autonomy is influenced, among other things, by:
levels of economic activity
the degree of use of a regional language
the importance of one's own culture
the degree of identification as a European
Comparing the Isle of Man with other UK regions and the Channel Islands, the average Manx score for full independence is only behind that of Scotland (66%) and Wales (46.7%).
Only respondents in England (39.2%), Cornwall (53.7%) and Northern Ireland (62.1%) were more in favour of more autonomy of their corresponding region.
Only in England (27.2%), Guernsey (25.7%) and Jersey (27.9%) were more respondents on average in favour of the current status of their own region than on the Isle of Man.
In Cornwall (4.3%), Guernsey (2.7%) and Jersey (5.3%) was the average vote in favour of less autonomy and more integration into the United Kingdom lower than in the Isle of Man.
The annual surveys on the Isle of Man were offered in both English and Manx and were conducted between 1st January and 31st March and promoted via social media (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) and media appeals.
The transfer of the results to the population needs further clarification. Due to the subject matter and the nature of the sampling, there are more men than women among the participants. The age groups between 30 and 49 are most strongly represented, while younger and older groups are underrepresented.
On average, participants have at least vocation training or higher. Academics are overrepresented. Only the income groups of all regions are evenly distributed.
You can find out more about these influencing factors, representativeness, research design and method in the full research paper here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385000989_Regional_desired_Degree_of_Autonomy
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