TOPICS ranging from the sacking of Peter Karran, public sector pensions and Pinewood film studios dominated the discussion at the second of the Council of Ministers’ meetings with the public on Tuesday night.
The Centenary Centre in Peel was the venue which saw members of the public queuing outside and virtually filling the auditorium, following the success of the first one in Douglas earlier this year.
The agenda kicked off with a presentation by Treasury Minister Eddie Teare on the Scope of Government Report and a budget summary. He said the plan was to rebalance the books by 2015-16 using £92m of government reserves staggered over the next three years.
‘How can you justify spending £24m on a gamble which is what investing in Pinewood is?’ asked one woman in the audience.
Mr Teare told her the island’s film industry had brought £270m worth of economic benefit to the island over the past 17 years.
‘It’s profit and it’s money in the bank,’ he said.
It meant the island could benefit from a global brand name and at the same time diversify its economy as much as possible. He said the government could no longer compete with tax incentives offered by the UK government to the film industry.
‘But by teaming up with Pinewood we can still shoot films on the island and protect jobs over here,’ he said.
‘The film fund we are dealing with now is profits that have been generated from the film industry. It’s not money taken from schools or health. Pinewood is no more speculative than investing in equities which is done on a regular basis.’
He described latest government growth figures of 3 to 5 per cent as amazing compared with general European trends.
‘That’s because we have a diverse economy with e-gaming, space industry, film, the aircraft registry,’ he said.
Peel commissioner Rodger Gimbert queried whether money invested in film would benefit the Isle of Man or the UK but Mr Teare said the island could offer post production services and 20 to 25 per cent of the money invested in film production would be spent on island.
Responding to other questions, Mr Bell said a Freedom of Information Act is currently being drafted and was due to be introduced later this year or early in 2013.
On public sector pensions, Mr Teare said the new measures introduced in April would see public sector workers work longer and contribute more.
‘The restructure means the cash coming in will meet the cash going out,’ he said.
On the topic of Mr Karran’s sacking, Mr Bell said anyone could vote as they wished if they indicated their position before the debate but he said Mr Karran had supported the motion in CoMin then changed his position in Tynwald.
