Isle of Man Finance

The Isle of Man is an internally self-governing dependent territory of the British Crown. It is not and has never been part of the United Kingdom but is within the British Isles. Queen Elizabeth II is acknowledged by the Island as its Head of State, but the Island is politically and constitutionally separate from the United Kingdom. It is technically a Crown Dependency and is thus independent in all matters except foreign affairs and defence, both of which are the responsibility of the United Kingdom 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 has two branches, consisting of the House of Keys (which is elected by universal suffrage) and the Legislative Council (whose members are elected by members of the House of Keys). The 24 members of the House of Keys are popularly elected every 5 years and the overwhelming majority are independents. The next general election is in September 2011. The Island is noteworthy for its relative absence of party politics; this has contributed to the remarkable stability of the Manx system.

The Island has a ministerial system of government that is headed by the Chief Minister who selects the Manx Cabinet (the Council of Ministers). The Chief Minister is nominated by Tynwald from amongst its members after each general election.