History
The Manx Labour Party was formed in 1918, making it the first organised political party on the island. Its formation was prompted by the high level of indirect taxation as a proportion of the Isle of Man Government's income. The founders of the party saw that as being unfair to the poorest in society and wanted to increase the reliance on income taxation instead.
Between 1919, when Labour Party candidates stood in every constituency on the island bar one, and 1946, the party won between four and seven seats in the House of Keys. At the 1946 election the party had high hopes of emulating the British Labour Party's success in the 1945 UK general election and contested the election on a staunchly socialist manifesto. The party contested every seat in the House of Keys except the Speaker's seat, but won only two. During the 1950s and 1960s the party made a limited recovery, but it has never been able to achieve the level of representation it had before 1946.
In the 2001 election, the party polled the highest percentage of votes (17.3%) among the parties standing, and two of its three candidates won seats. However, independent candidates won the vast bulk of the votes and seats at the election, and the political pressure group, Alliance for Progressive Government, won more seats (three), despite getting a smaller share of the vote (14.6%).
The Liberal Vannin Party, was founded partly by some former members of the Manx Labour Party.
Read more about this topic: Manx Labour Party
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