Is Theresa May a 'Nanny' anyone would wish for?

With the Chief Minister and Treasury Minister having spent some days at the Brexit obsessed Tory conference I thought I would reproduce this article. The German online website Taz visited the Island a few months ago and interviewed myself and various others. Even the gulls get an opening mention which should please Jason Moorhouse MHK. Here is the transcript.

I should warn that I’ve used google translate so there will be a few minor glitches in the text. The sub headings - by the way - are in brackets.

I thought the opening illustration of Douglas Lighthouse is apposite - there may be rocks and stormy seas ahead!

The full original article link is below. If you get a nasty pop-up when it opens click on ‘schon dabei!’ in the lower centre:

“The Isle of Man and the Brexit

(The disturbing image of a tax haven)
When leaving the EU, they were not allowed to have a say, but have to deal with the consequences. The people of the Isle of Man are looking into an uncertain future.

ISLE OF MAN taz | The gulls are everywhere, that's not unusual. The Isle of Man is located in the middle of the Irish Sea, the sea is never far away. By contrast, aircraft are barely visible. There are almost a thousand private machines registered here, it is one of the largest fleets in the world. If you register your plane here and import it to the European Union with the help of a letterbox company, you do not pay any VAT. It's about sums of money. Formula 1 racing driver Lewis Hamilton, for example, has saved at least 5.4 million euros for his Bombardier Challenger 605.
"The Isle of Man has a grubby image as a tax haven," says Bernard Moffatt. "So far, the British government has protected us against sanctions by vetoing them, because they have to be unanimously decided by the EU. But with the Brexit this will probably be over. "
Moffatt, 72, a tall man with glasses and white hair, lives in Peel on the west coast of the island. He is known everywhere, he has already been involved in many areas and accompanies the development of the island critically. He is one of the few to speak of a "tax haven", and most compatriots defend fiscal policy as the legitimate decision of their island government.

Moffatt yellow painted house is located on the outskirts in a residential development and is sparingly furnished. Like his parents and grandparents, he was born on the island. Therefore, he has an entry in his passport: "The passport holder has no right to any benefits of the EU." This is the burgundy EU passport. However, "British Islands - Isle of Man" is on it. "I'm the only one in my family who has this restriction in my passport," Moffatt says, "you get it when you come from the island in the third generation."

(Immediately subordinate to the crown)

The Isle of Man is - like the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey - neither part of the United Kingdom nor British Overseas Territory, but directly subordinate to the British Crown. Head of state is Queen Elizabeth, she is entitled "Lord of man" - traditionally, the island is written with two "n". It has its own stamps and its own currency, the Isle-of-Man pound, which is linked to sterling.

The island is not an EU member, but is part of the customs union with the United Kingdom practically the European customs union. Goods imported through the EU are considered imported into the EU. But they are taxed according to the rules of the island - not at all. There is no corporate tax.

That's why nearly 30,000 companies are registered on the Isle of Man - international corporations, banks, insurance companies. More than 10,000 people, a quarter of all employees work here. Moffatt believes that Brexit will have catastrophic consequences for the island. "We are bound for prosperity to the deal that London is negotiating with the EU," he says. "But we are at the bottom of the food chain. That was already the case when joining the EU in 1974. We had simply forgotten about ourselves and the Channel Islands and only added a supplementary protocol at the very last minute. "Through this" Protocol 3 ", many EU rules also apply to the Isle of Man.

(The Gaelic was almost extinct)

Moffatt points to the town sign of Peel. Below it is "Purt ny h-inshey", which means "port of the island". The Isle of Man belongs to the Celtic regions and has its own language, the "Gaelg Vanninagh" - Manx Gaelic. After Ned Maddrell, the last native speaker, had died in 1974, the language was initially considered extinct. But since the eighties, they tried to countersteer, today there are again locals who speak Manx Gaelic from an early age, and after all, just under 3 percent of residents have at least basic knowledge of the language.

In addition, Moffatt co-founded in 1962 the party Mec Vannin, the "sons of man", which advocates for an independent republic. "I always had to get coffee because I was the youngest," he recalls. Today he is president of the party, but in the "Tynwald" has no deputies, because they would have to make a pledge of allegiance to the Queen.

The Tynwald, the oldest continuous parliament in the world, has existed since 979. It has two chambers: the House of Keys, comparable to the London House of Commons, with 24 deputies; the legislative council, the Legislative Council, is determined by the House of Keys and corresponds to the British House of Lords. The Council decides on laws that have previously gone through the House of Keys.
30 greens on the island

"100 years ago, all decisions were taken by the governor, the governor of the queen," says Andrew Bentley. "The House of Keys was a club of wealthy landowners. Even today, it's more important who you know than which party you belong to. "Bentley founded the Green Party of the Isle of Man two years ago with a few like-minded people. She has only 30 members, but he hopes for growth.

"Parties have never played a major role here," he says. "Most MPs in the House of Keys are nonpartisan. It's a small island and personal relationships are important. "The Labor Party had a representation in the 1940s and 1950s and is currently trying to revive it. Bentley was born in the Bahamas because his parents worked there temporarily, but when he was nine, the family moved to the Isle of Man. Now he is 44 and works as an architect.

Bentley tries to understand how Brexit got there. He draws a bow from Donald Trump to the independence aspirations in Scotland and Catalonia. "All contain a certain amount of racism, everyone is blaming others. Expectations and reality often diverge. "Thank God, the Isle of Man is relatively immune to it. "When I came to the island, the unemployment rate was relatively high," he says. "Nowadays, there is full employment." The EU immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania have jobs, they find them especially in the tourism industry.
Badly paid jobs, finds ex-unionist Moffatt. In addition, the tourism decreases. Last year, 25,000 fewer visitors than in 2016. Many had hoped that the island would indirectly benefit from IS terror in the cities. "But that did not happen, even though Unesco gave it the status of a biosphere reserve," states Moffatt.

(Is online gambling the future?)

If the negotiations between London and Brussels are unfavorable, it will be difficult for the residents of the Isle of Man to bring their industrial, agricultural and fishery products to market. It therefore relies on other industries, online gambling, for example, already account for 20 percent of economic output. Because the island is crossed by several internet links between Ireland and the UK, it is well connected; the area is expandable. The Isle of Man could even become a model for the UK after Brexit, Moffatt believes: "An offshore place looking for a niche in the world."

Theo Fleurbaay, however, expects tourism to revive after Brexit. "The British will not be able to travel to Spain that easily anymore," he says. Fleurbaay is from the Netherlands, but has been living in Douglas, the capital with 25,000 inhabitants, for twenty years. He runs the small Arrandale Hotel on Hutchinson Square. It is a historical place. In 1944, the British government confiscated the 33 three-story, yellow-brick houses to set up a detention center. The owners received a small compensation and had to move. The entire square was sealed off with barbed wire and iron gates, remains of which can still be seen today.

In total, there were six such camps on the island. The Hutchinson Internment Camp was considered an "artists' colony" because there were "hostile foreigners" such as the Dadaist Kurt Schwitters, the writers Arthur Koestler and Rudolf Olden and the pianist Walter Landauer interned. "My hotel, the Arrandale House, was the infirmary of the camp," says Fleurbaay. "Among the people deported from England were many Jews who had escaped the Nazis and were now imprisoned on the Isle of Man. After a year, they were released, and prisoners of war from Germany, Austria and Italy were sent to the camp instead. "The original owners did not receive their homes until 1946.

"Many people come from Germany, Austria and Italy to see where their ancestors were imprisoned during the war," says Fleurbaay. He suspects that the number of visitors will decrease after Brexit, because "even without the additional hurdles to be expected, it is difficult enough to get to the island." For Fleurbaay, Brexit is "the dumbest decision of all time". "I'm European," he says, "but we depend on what deal Theresa May negotiates. The Isle of Man is very far down the list of priorities. "He hopes that the politicians in the Tynwald will take the matter more seriously than just wait and see.

(Top tax rate of 20 percent)

John Lizanec wishes that too. The 62-year-old is self-employed and specializes in the installation of kitchens and bathrooms. Lizanec is tall and slim, his head shaved. He was born in Scotland, he has not lost the accent until today, although he lives on the Isle of Man for 17 years. The Brexit will have a significant impact on the island, he believes. "It's getting harder to trade with Europe," he says. "May the immigrants stay after Brexit? And will we still be able to travel to Europe without any problems? "

Lizanec's parents were farmers in Czechoslovakia before emigrating to Scotland. "Money was always tight," he says. "There were no books in our house." He and his wife, also from Scotland, have come to the Isle of Man because of low taxes. The top income tax rate is 20 percent. "There is hardly any moonlighting," he says, "because the savings would be too low. And the crime rate is low. "As a retiree, he will go back to Scotland with his wife, then he can no longer afford the island. "As a newcomer, you do not get government help, and if you're seriously ill, you'll have to see how you make ends meet financially."

Is complete independence an option for the island? Bernard Moffatt believes that many problems can be solved in this way. "Maybe after Brexit people finally realize that we have to stand on our own two feet," he hopes. "Then we could negotiate our own relations with the EU - just as we negotiated our close relationship with Ireland." But the government lacks confidence. "She would rather hang on the skirt of the nanny. But Theresa May is not a nanny anyone could wish for. "

Link to original article with illustrations here:

http://www.taz.de/!5503965/

Bernard Moffatt