Uppermost in their thoughts

It’s a shame the same can’t be said for those who were supposed to be listening to him.

For the outcome of the hearing is that Guernsey is now going to have to raise its concerns to ‘relevant bodies’ about the lack of representation that the islands – Jersey and the Isle of Man are not immune from this – in UK negotiations. Because we keep slipping off the agenda.

It’s a matter of real concern. Recently we argued against the spurious notion that the island(s) could, should even, have a Member of Parliament. Thanks, but no thanks. No representation without taxation and all that.

But now we find out that the islands’ interests weren’t uppermost over Brexit. And then, when it came to negotiating one of the (few) flagship successes of Brexit so far, membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, again we, and our interests, weren’t at the table. The result, last-minute scrabbling around to get local interests understood.

Sir Bob Neill, chairman of the committee, is a strong supporter of Guernsey, and the States would be well advised to try to lean on all the friends it has. The risk is that, whether deliberate or not, our interests will be at best a last-minute afterthought, or, at worst, excluded altogether.