How is the Manx Government formed?

Once the Chief Minister is chosen (see our blog on that here), it’s up to them to select who they want to serve in their Council of Ministers. Ministers are essentially responsible for setting the direction of a government department, like Health or Infrastructure and are ultimately responsible if things go wrong. 

The Isle of Man can have up to 9 ministers (not including the CM). Right now, in addition to the Chief Minister there are Ministers for: the Cabinet Office, Justice and Home Affairs, Treasury, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Health and Social Care, Enterprise, Education, Sport and Culture and Infrastructure. 

Collectively, they form the Council of Ministers (or CoMin)  - the Isle of Man’s highest decision-making body - effectively, they are what most people think of when they think of the Government. They meet regularly, and whilst they can disagree behind closed doors,  in public they are bound by something collective responsibility. This means that once a decision has been made by CoMin, if you’re a Minister you have to support it. If you don’t, then you won’t be a Minister for long. 

Prospective Ministers do not need to be elected by the House of Keys; instead, they are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the CM. Candidates can be MHKs or MLCs (but generally in recent years they have been pulled from the ranks of the Keys). They can be dismissed by the Chief Minister or they can resign themselves - if the Chief Minister loses a no-confidence vote then they also go along with them… 

The Chief can chop and change the Council of Ministers however they see fit, whilst the law limits CoMin to 9 ministers in total the CM can restructure and rename departments (remember DED?) and can appoint ministers to be responsible for more than one department at a time. 

Want to make sure you have a say in who becomes a minister? Whilst you don't get to vote for a minister, you do get to vote on which candidate has the chance to become one at the General Election.

If you’re planning to vote in the Isle of Man General Election - make sure you’re registered. You can register or find out if you are registered here. 

The deadline for registering to vote is 25 August 2026. If you’re not registered by then, you won’t be able to vote on election day. 

Want to know more about the election?

This is just one in our series of short blogs explaining what the hell is happening on 24 September 2026. You can read the rest of the blogs here.