Islands react with fury at Commons' 'interference' bid
MOVES to impose greater financial transparency on Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man are facing furious opposition from the islands' governments.
They are now fiercely trying to lobby MPs after a wave of Conservatives came out in support of changes to the UK's Financial Services bill demanding that the Crown dependencies introduce public registers of beneficial ownership by the end of 2020.
A joint statement by the three Crown Dependency governments has stated the changes are contrary to the established constitutional relationship where the UK does not legislate for them on domestic matters without their consent.
'The proposed amendments attempt to impose public registers of beneficial ownership for all Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories,' the statement says.
'We also consider the legislation to be wholly unnecessary in the context of our robust existing approach to the retention and sharing of beneficial ownership information. All Crown Dependencies are committed to the highest standards of financial services regulation and transparency.
'Our jurisdictions are parties to Exchange of Notes for Beneficial Ownership information with the UK and are committed to the aim of exchanging adequate, accurate and current information on beneficial ownership to help combat tax evasion, money laundering and corruption. These arrangements were reviewed in 2018 and found to be effective; the 2019 review is underway.'
The Chief Ministers of all three jurisdictions will be holding meetings in London on Monday on this matter.
Previously there have been warnings that the UK legislating in this way would trigger a constitutional crisis.
Policy & Resources president Gavin St Pier has released a string of strongly worded rebukes on Twitter, telling Helen Goodman MP: 'You need to clean up the UK’s own backyard - get on, copy us and regulate trust and company service providers. We can show you how to do it if you are prepared to listen.'
In another tweet he said: 'The irony of the Labour Party wanting the UK to act like a colonial power again - which in the Crown Dependencies case is neither historically accurate or feasible.'
