A move to allow women bishops in the Anglican Church in Wales has failed tonight by just three votes.

Had the vote passed, the Church in Wales would have joined Scotland and Ireland in permitting women to be consecrated to the episcopate, leaving England the only UK province not to permit it.

Neither Scotland nor Ireland has yet appointed a woman to a diocese however, meaning that Wales has probably passed up on the opportunity to be the first province in the UK to appoint a woman bishop.

The bill, proposed by the Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan, was passed overwhelmingly by 52 votes to 19 by the laity.

But in the clergy it passed by a mere 27 votes to 18, leaving it three votes short of the two-thirds majority it needed to become canon law.

It fell after the amendment that would have offered alternative oversight for the clergy opponents also failed. Supporters of women bishops were reluctant to sanction what they regarded as institutionalised schism.

Dr Morgan admitted that had the amendment passed, the bill would probably have “sailed through”.

He said: “I am deeply disappointed, especially since it was lost with a very low margin in the house of clergy. Although the amendment could have saved the motion, many supporters of women bishops were reluctant to sanction them because they because they feared it might institutionalise schism.

“It was just three votes. The same thing happened over the ordination of women to the priesthood 11 years ago. That later went through at the second attempt. It is an issue that is not going to go away or be ignored. The Church in Wales will have to grapple with it. I am sad that we have to go through the whole process again.”

London’s Putney Vicar Giles Fraser, founder of the Inclusive Church campaigning group, said: “It’s an absolute disgrace. If women are good enough to be priests they are good enough to be bishops. Anything other than this is a theological nonsense.”

Canon Mary Stallard, chaplain to the Bishop of St Asaph, said: “The moment will come back. We are very disappointed. It is not totally unexpected. But we are looking forward to bringing it back. This issue will not be ignored.”