THE Isle of Man has become ‘collateral damage’ in a wider debate going on in UK politics, Chief Minister Allan Bell told MHKs – adding that he was determined to enhance the island’s relationship with Westminster.
He was quizzed in the House of Keys by Bill Henderson (Douglas North) over comments made by Labour leader Ed Miliband who suggested the Isle of Man should be blacklisted as a tax haven by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
In fact, we are on the OECD’s white list of countries that comply with global standards for tax co-operation and information exchange.
Mr Bell told Mr Henderson: ‘I fully share the member’s concern on this and I am sure every member feels the same way but we have to understand the politics of the moment, the internal politics of the Labour Party and the political requirements of the coalition government, and sometimes small jurisdictions inadvertently become collateral damage in the wider debate that is going on.’
Mr Bell said he had ‘swiftly and firmly refuted’ the UK Leader of the Opposition’s comments and clearly set out the weight of evidence that showed the Isle of Man’s proactive stance towards tax regulation.
He pointed out it was not for any politician to declare who should be on the OECD black list. ‘The process of assessing where countries are placed on OECD lists is rightly based on a careful and dispassionate consideration of the evidence, not political decrees. The evidence on this matter is clear: the Isle of Man has repeatedly been judged to be co-operative and compliant with internationally agreed standards.
He added: ‘As Chief Minister, I am determined to enhance our relationship with the UK, as I have previously made clear. Essential to this ambition is maintaining close contact with our UK counterparts.
‘I will be engaging with the Leader of the Opposition’s comments as part of my ongoing contact programme. In terms of impact, I think the comments were driven by rhetoric, as opposed to policy. These events serve to remind us of the importance of maintaining a close dialogue with UK counterparts, which I am committed to do.’
iomtoday is still waiting for the Labour Party to respond to our questions.
On January 16 we asked the Labour Party central office whether Mr Miliband genuinely believes the Isle of Man is not as well regulated as the UK, and asked the party to provide figures showing the number of people/amount of money that has been put into the Isle of Man illegally and what evidence it had of the island’s non-co-operation with UK authorities.
We also asked the party to confirm whether it was referring to the legal practice of tax avoidance or the illegal one of tax evasion.
Despite repeated requests for a response, the Labour Party has yet to reply.