GUERNSEY is increasingly under the international spotlight and dealing with that is one of the biggest challenges facing the island, Guernsey’s new HM Comptroller has said.

Crown Advocate Richard McMahon is to be sworn in this morning as the second most senior Law Officer, equivalent to the Solicitor-General in the UK. Speaking yesterday, he said he was excited by the challenges that lay ahead.

‘It should be professionally and intellectually challenging times and I’m looking forward to it,’ he said.

Mr McMahon (pictured) moved to the island in 1995 to take on the role of legislative draftsman at St James’ Chambers.

He said the way the island was viewed externally had changed a great deal in that time.

‘It’s like a snowball rolling down a hill and external scrutiny into what we are up to is becoming much more prevalent.’

The States agreed last week to review the island’s zero-10 tax system in the wake of news that it did not meet the EU’s approval. The system will be changed – possibly introducing 10% corporation tax – and Mr McMahon said he would be involved in offering any legal advice the States needed.

‘The politicians will decide where they want to head, but in doing so I suspect they will take advice about the legal compatibility of what they want to do,’ he said. ‘We have this presumption of it being 10%. If a States member asks if 10% will work, we will look at it. Our role is not to introduce policy, it is to ensure the legality of it.’