Guernsey Press

‘Brexit represents opportunity for the Crown Dependencies’

GUERNSEY, Jersey and the Isle of Man must use their constitutional autonomy to act in their own best interests in the post-Brexit landscape, according to the lawyer who was a leading adviser to the islands for on European issues for many years.

Published
27-2-13.RO13A..Alastair Sutton, Barrister and former advisor to Crown dependancies Picture: ROB CURRIE.REF:01819207.jpg. (30447247)

Professor Alastair Sutton said that Brexit represented an opportunity for the Crown Dependencies, in the context of doubts about whether the interests of the UK government always coincided with those of the islands.

Writing for the international finance website IFC Review, he referred specifically to the UK government’s representation of the islands within the EU while a member, and the current ‘acrimony’ in its relations with the EU, especially France, which, he said, could not be in the islands’ best interests.

‘During the EU’s membership, it was not immediately obvious that the islands’ interests in the field of direct tax were always being defended by the UK in the Council of Ministers. Now one year after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, there is no doubt that... the onus is on individual jurisdictions to promote and defend their identity and reputation in their external relations will be greater than ever.’

Professor Sutton was a former EU official and as a lawyer was immersed in EU law for nearly 40 years. He said it was not clear whether Brexit had yet had an adverse effect on financial or related services within the UK’s territories, Gibraltar excepted.

And while the EU will continue to deal with island issues through Westminster, Brexit did offer an opportunity for the Crown Dependencies to exercise a degree of choice over their direction.

‘All UK territories are “autonomous” in the sense that they are not bound, as a matter of law, by legislation adopted in the UK,’ he wrote.

‘Territories such as Jersey, Bermuda or Gibraltar are therefore free to determine for themselves the extent to which they follow the UK, EU or their own standards in areas such as insurance and asset management.’

The UK bears ultimate responsibility for the islands’ conformity with international law, but Professor Sutton noted that it is generally accepted that the UK may not impose legislative or executive measures in the islands, which can, he said, lead to a ‘potentially difficult legal situation’.

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