P&R president meets with ministers in UK
Tackling financial crime and Guernsey’s economic relationship with the UK were among the topics discussed when Chief Minister Lyndon Trott met UK ministers to discuss a range of issues.
Deputy Trott was in Westminster with representatives from Jersey and the Isle of Man for meetings with the UK’s Ministry of Justice, Home Office and HM Treasury, as well as the Lord Mayor of the City of London.
The UK Government’s response to the House of Commons’ Justice Committee’s report on the constitutional relationships between the UK and the Crown Dependencies was the focus of the meeting with Lord Ponsonby, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice.
At this meeting, ministers discussed the work being done to strengthen the relationships with all of the UK’s government departments, as well as some international trade issues. Guernsey’s economic relationship with the UK and the contribution of the islands to the UK government’s growth agenda were the subjects of an introductory meeting with Emma Reynolds MP, the economic secretary to the Treasury who leads on HM Treasury’s engagement with the Crown Dependencies. This was also the main area of discussions with the Lord Mayor of the City of London. And ministers spoke to Home Office minister Dan Jarvis MP about how the islands and the UK can work together to tackle all forms of financial crime. Areas of cooperation included the transparency of beneficial ownership information – an update will be discussed by the States next month – exchange of information, and potential opportunities to help overseas territories with training and ‘capability building’ in this area of policy.
‘In every meeting that we attended, the UK Government congratulated Guernsey on its recent Moneyval report,’ said Deputy Trott.
‘The UK Ministers also thanked us for the leading and effective role that the islands play in implementing and enforcing international sanctions.
‘This was particularly important in light of the public statements earlier this week from EU leaders about increasing such pressure on Russia.’
He said the meetings underlined the economic importance of the island’s relationship with the UK, ‘as well as the cooperation between the authorities of the islands in global issues including financial crime, which are a high priority for this government’.
