Government
The Isle of Man is an internally self-governing dependent territory of the British Crown. The Island acknowledges the Queen of England as its Head of State, but the Island is politically and constitutionally separate from the United Kingdom. As a Crown Dependency, the Isle of Man is independent in all matters except foreign affairs and defence which are the responsibility of the UK Government and for which the Isle of Man pays an annual contribution.
The Manx exercise their extensive political and legislative independence through their ancient parliament, Tynwald, which is the oldest legislature in the world in continuous existence. Tynwald is bicameral and consists of the House of Keys (which is elected by universal suffrage) and the Legislative Council (whose members are primarily elected by members of the House of Keys). The 24 members of the House of Keys are popularly elected every 5 years and most are independents. The politics of the Island are noteworthy for their relative absence of party politics, a feature which contributes towards the remarkable stability of the Manx system.
The Island has a ministerial system of government which is headed by the Chief Minister, a position held since the 2006 general election by Tony Brown MHK who was previously the Speaker of the House of Keys. A Council of Ministers who determine government policy and head the various government departments is selected by the Chief Minister from the members of the House of Keys.
It is the Isle of Man Government's stated policy to pursue the economic and social well-being of its people. The Government therefore is determined to preserve the Island's position in the premier league of international financial centres. To achieve this, and in order to attract high quality business, it is willing to implement facilitative legislation, maintain good regulation and levels of co-operation with other jurisdictions and regulatory organisations and promote close communication between the private and public sector at all levels.
The high levels of growth over the recent decade have allowed the Manx Government to invest heavily in the Island's infrastructure and facilities to the benefit of the resident population. |
