INTERNET shopping comes at a price – a reduction in the number of Manx businesses and jobs, Tynwald was warned.
Chief Minister Allan Bell MHK made the comments as he was questioned over the government’s priorities on sustainability and self-sufficiency.
Peter Karran (Lib Van, Onchan) raised the issue of buying off-island and import substitution as a way of trying to help local businesses.
Mr Bell replied that the island was very limited in what we can actually manufacture and produce for ourselves. He added: ‘In a broader sense, whilst the imports will still have to come from off the island, it is very important that people buy through local suppliers.
‘The internet is a very tempting medium to buy. It is easy. It is often cheaper, but when people do that they have to understand it comes at a price, and that price is the decimation of local suppliers, local retailers and obviously local jobs as well.
‘Therefore, we have to be very alert to that and across government, and indeed across the island, work to achieve the very end that the member is talking about.’
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Castletown MHK Richard Ronan said the unexpected challenges to our self-sufficiency and sustainability will continue to grow over the next three years, and asked the Chief Minister what steps he is taking to reduce the unexpected nature of these challenges.
Mr Bell replied: ‘There is no doubt that the period we are living through at the moment is the most challenging we have experienced probably for 30 years or more.
‘There is no question about that. There is absolutely no possibility of going back to life as it existed before 2008.
‘The problem with unexpected shocks is they tend to be unexpected,’ he pointed out, adding that few had forecast the risk of a credit crunch before 2008. He said the VAT issue had come at very short notice and it would take some time to recover from it.
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