THOSE who heard Digby, Lord Jones speak while in the island last week were largely of one mind in assessing what he had to say: thought-provoking.

The interview with him that this newspaper  ran yesterday covered a lot of ground, from the them-and-us divisive nature of public sector payroll and pensions to borrowing and the arrogance of at least certain bankers.

What is most concerning, however, even above his call for Treasury and Resources to take the lead on expenditure control, is what he had to say about the criticisms these islands face for their alleged tax haven status.

A man who for 15 months was one of Gordon Brown’s ministers has confirmed that the hostility radiating towards the Crown Dependencies is not from the UK as a whole but Downing Street and Brussels in particular.

In short, it is politically motivated and has little to do with reality.

That is a huge problem for the Channel Islands.

The tempo of the attacks on low tax jurisdictions has stepped up significantly in recent weeks and even the Trade Union Congress is jumping on the bandwagon.

Much like the so-called VAT ‘loophole’ – which the UK requested to save it the cost of collecting minimal amounts of tax that are smaller than those lost by British motorists not registering their cars – the truth is sacrificed for a greater goal.

In this case, it is to appease Left-wing MPs and to deflect attention from the economic meltdown and massive borrowings that will affect UK taxpayers for generations.

The issue for Guernsey is how to counter what is rapidly becoming a tide of misinformation.

Transparency and yet more reviews sprung upon us in contravention of agreed constitutional protocols are one thing, but dealing with a Downing Street and Brussels that, according to Lord Jones, refuses to listen is quite another.

The current strategy is for GuernseyFinance to engage at a professional and media level, but it is largely preaching to the converted via the trade press. The hostility has entered the news pages via a much higher-level political lobbying process.

What’s needed now is for the Crown Dependencies to launch their own, focused, counter lobby to slow what is a corrosive flow of negative propaganda from the UK and elsewhere.