The Isle of Man Government (Manx : Reiltys Ellan Vannin) is the government of the Isle of Man. The formal head of the Isle of Man Government is the Lieutenant Governor, the personal representative of the Lord of Mann (currently Charles III). The executive head is the Chief Minister.
Douglas, the capital city in the Isle of Man, home to the seat of government, is where most Government offices and the parliament chambers (Tynwald) are located.
The Civil Service has more than 2,000 employees and the total number of public sector employees including civil servants, teachers, nurses, police, etc. was 7,413 full-time equivalent on 31 March 2019. [1] This is just under 10% of the population of the Island and 21% [1] of the working population. This does not include any military forces, as defence is the constitutional responsibility of the United Kingdom.
The Government consists of eight departments, seven statutory boards, and numerous other governmental and quasi-independent agencies. The departments all report directly to the Council of Ministers through their respective minister. Departments 'sponsor' other public bodies to enable a conduit into the Council of Ministers. This arrangement extends to Tynwald and its branches for public bodies that do not have a member of Tynwald on their board.
This article needs to be updated.(January 2018) |
Chief Minister of the Isle of Man: Alfred Cannan MHK
Chief Executive of Isle of Man Government: Andy Ralphs
Before modern times the government of the Isle of Man was in the hands of the Governor (or Lieutenant Governor), who was the representative of the Lord of Man, assisted by his Council, consisting of the other permanent officials (the Bishop, Archdeacon, Deemsters, Attorney General, etc.). [25] The Council evolved into the Legislative Council, the upper chamber of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man.
After the Revestment in 1765, the Lieutenant Governor and his officials were the agents of the British Government, and not democratically responsible to the Manx people. Conflict between the House of Keys (popularly elected after 1866) and the Lieutenant Governor came to a head during the tenure of the 3rd Baron Raglan (1902–18).
After the First World War, the Lieutenant Governor gradually ceded control to Tynwald, a process guided by the reports of commissions and other bodies in 1911, [26] 1959 [27] and 1969. [28] An Executive Council, chaired by him and including members of Tynwald, was established in 1949, and gradually thereafter became the effective government of the Island. Finance and the police came under local control between 1958 and 1976. [29] The Lieutenant Governor ceased to chair the Executive Council in 1980, being replaced by a chairman elected by Tynwald, [30] and the council was reconstituted in 1985 to include the chairmen of the eight principal Boards; [31] in 1986 they were given the title 'Minister' and the chairman was styled 'Chief Minister'. [32] In 1990 the council was renamed the 'Council of Ministers'. [33]
During the 19th century several bodies, which came to be known as 'Boards of Tynwald', were created to exercise functions under democratic control. These included the Board of Education (1872), Highway Board (1874), Asylums Board (1888), Government Property Trustees (1891) and Local Government Board (1894). However, although direct taxation was levied by Tynwald, the Boards' freedom of action before the 1960s was limited by the Lieutenant Governor's control of the Island's budget and his power to appoint certain of their members.
The structure of the Boards of Tynwald, along with other bodies variously called 'Statutory Boards' and 'Commercial Boards', became increasingly unwieldy after the 1950s, and was eventually reformed in the 1980s, when a system of 'ministerial government' was set up. [34]
The Departments and Statutory Boards which existed before the reorganisation in 2010, and their predecessors, are shown below:
The government of the Isle of Man is a parliamentary representative democracy. The Monarch of the United Kingdom is also the head of state of the Isle of Man, and generally referred to as "The King, Lord of Mann". Legislation of the Isle of Man defines "the Crown in right of the Isle of Man" as separate from the "Crown in right of the United Kingdom". His representative on the island is the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, but his role is mostly ceremonial, though he does have the power to grant Royal Assent.
The Manx Labour Party is a political party on the Isle of Man that was founded in 1918.
Noel Quayle Cringle OBE was President of Tynwald, the legislature of the Isle of Man, from 2000 to 2011.
The Council of Ministers is the principal executive organ of the Isle of Man Government. Its role is similar to, though not identical with, that of the Cabinet in the United Kingdom. Until 1990, its title was the Executive Council.
Allan Robert Bell is a Manx politician who was the Chief Minister of the Isle of Man, having been elected to that position on 11 October 2011. He was an Independent Member of the House of Keys for Ramsey from 1984 to September 2016, and served in several different ministerial roles. He was replaced as Chief Minister on 4 October 2016.
Stephen Charles Rodan MLC is a Manx politician who served as the President of Tynwald from 2016 to 2021 and is a former Minister of the Isle of Man Government and former MHK for the constituency of Garff. He was first elected to the seat in a by-election in 1995.
Peter Karran is a Manx politician, who is a former leader of the Liberal Vannin Party and former Minister of Education and Children. He was a Member of the House of Keys for Middle, and then for Onchan, from 1985 to 2016.
The Isle of Man Post Office, which formerly used the trading name Isle of Man Post, operates postal collection, ancillary mail services, philatelic goods and delivery services and post office counter services on the Isle of Man.
Clare Margaret Christian OBE CP is a Manx politician, who was President of Tynwald until 2016. She is a former member of the Legislative Council and former Health Minister in the Isle of Man Government.
Lieutenant Colonel Edgar John Mann MB was a British politician, and Chairman of the Executive Council of the Isle of Man, the then head of the island's Government.
The Department of Infrastructure is a department of the Isle of Man Government.
The Department of Education, Sport and Culture is a department of the Isle of Man Government.
The Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority was the statutory board responsible for water supply and sewage disposal in the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1972 as the 'Isle of Man Water Authority' by the merger of the Isle of Man Water Board and the Water Department of Douglas Corporation. In 1974 it took over the gas production and distribution functions of the Isle of Man Gas Authority, and was renamed the 'Isle of Man Water and Gas Authority'. In 1985 the gas undertaking was privatised, and the authority reverted to its original title. It was renamed the 'Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority' in 2010, taking over the sewerage responsibilities of the former Department of Transport.
The lieutenant governor of the Isle of Man is the Lord of Mann's official personal representative in the Isle of Man. He has the power to grant royal assent and is styled "His Excellency".
The Department of Health was a department of the Isle of Man Government. It was created on 1 April 2010, taking on the health services and public health functions of the former Department of Health and Social Security. On 1 August 2012 the Isle of Man's Mental Health Services were transferred from the Department of Social Care to the Department of Health, which also saw the creation of a post for a second Member for the Department with specific responsibility for Mental Health. On 2 December 2013 as part of the Council of Ministers' plans to modernize ministerial government it was announced that the Department of Health and the Department of Social Care would merge on 1 April, subject to the approval of Tynwald. The move was by and large a reversal of one element of the restructuring of the Isle of Man Government in April 2010 which saw the former Department of Health and Social Security split to form the Department of Health and the Department of Social Care.
The Department of Social Care was a department of the Isle of Man Government. It was created on 1 April 2010, taking on the social services and social security functions of the former Department of Health and Social Security as well as the social housing function of the former Department of Local Government and the Environment. On 2 December 2013 as part of the Council of Ministers' plans to modernize ministerial government it was announced that the Department of Health and the Department of Social Care would merge on 1 April, subject to the approval of Tynwald. The move was by and large a reversal of one element of the restructuring of the Isle of Man Government in April 2010 which saw the former Department of Health and Social Security split to form the Department of Health and the Department of Social Care.
Culture Vannin is the trading name for the Manx Heritage Foundation, established in 1982 by the Isle of Man Government to promote Manx culture, heritage and language. It was rebranded in February 2014, having previously been known as the "Manx Heritage Foundation", since the former title "held connotations more towards the cultural history of the island" which were not felt to be accurate to the organisation's progressive approach to invigorating Manx culture. Culture Vannin's motto is "Taking our culture forward".
Kathleen Joan "Kate" Costain is a Manx politician who is a former Leader of the Liberal Vannin Party and was a Member of the House of Keys for Douglas South from 2011 to 2020. She changed her surname from Beecroft to Costain in 2019.
Laurence David Skelly MLC is a Manx politician, who has served as President of Tynwald since July 2021.
Alfred Louis Cannan MHK is a Manx politician and independent Member of the House of Keys for Ayre & Michael. He has served as the Chief Minister of the Isle of Man since the 12th of October 2021. He was previously the Minister for the Treasury.