Tory/Lib Dem coalition is ‘great news for Guernsey’
Wednesday 12th May 2010, 10:30AM BST.
Britain's new Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, outside 10 Downing Street.
GUERNSEY has little to fear from an alliance between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, according to Chief Minister Lyndon Trott.
‘I know for a variety of reasons that David Cameron is a friend of the Channel Islands and certainly we as Guernsey spent a considerable amount of time talking with the Conservatives when they were in opposition.
‘My instincts tell me that we have little to fear as a result of the time we have invested with them,’ he said today.
‘It is now my intention over the next few days to write to former justice secretary Jack Straw and particularly Lord Bach, who was the Labour peer with responsibility for the Crown Dependencies, and to thank all their teams for the hard work they put in on Guernsey’s behalf and for their friendship on many occasions, particularly over the last two years.
‘I am confident that we will have a similar relationship with the new team at the Ministry of Justice because it is likely that the existing shadow team will have their positions confirmed later today.’
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The CM is going to write to Jack Straw.
Probably on a postcard from his next jolly destination
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Instead of desperately seeking high profile friendship the CM would do well to keep a low profile.
It is time he started getting his own back yard sorted before looking into others. LT needs to realise he is of little importance elsewhere. Shame he is so egotistical & cannot see this.
I fail to see what his trips do for the island. He obviously enjoys & ceases every opportunity when it comes to rubbing shoulders with the high profile elite.
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David Cameron may (as Mr Trott suggests) be a ‘friend of the Channel Islands’ – but Nick Clegg is not. The Liberal Democrats have a very agressive attitude towards offshore financila centres.
Be interesting to see just how much clout Clegg will have.
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“(insert name of party who won)” is great news for Guernsey…I am sure if it had been Labour, British National Party etc…the headline would have been the same. Is anything ever bad for the island?
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Nick Clegg and the LD’s are not supporters of offshore finanical centres.
David Cameron runs by courtesy of Nick Clegg.
The previous and unlamented Uk government said they deplored tax avoidance. However, what they said and actually did, were very different.
The answer CD seems to be how serious Clegg (and Vince) is in “dealing” with offshore centres.
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I am just wondering what all this hard work is that Lord Bach and the Ministry of Justice have put in on our behalf. A recent MOJ select Committee report stated that the UK had clearly put their own interests first in their dealings with Iceland to the detriment of both Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It took the Chief Minister 10 months to realise in fact that the UK Government instead of representing us were doing nothing. We are collateral damage when it comes to their interests and they just play lip service to him during his trips. Vince Cable is certainly no friend of “Tax Havens”, should he get a position of influence in the new government.
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Gary Blatchford
Actually the benefit that the island gained from these meetings were a few new entries in LT’s mobile phone directory. Other than this absolutely little that I can see.
What has he done for the numerous savers who lost their life savings. Offered a lot of false hope & a big dollop of BS.
Some of these savers might have even been crazy enough to have voted him into his position. As well as the same people who pay taxes so he could enjoy an all expenses paid trip to China. & numerous other destinations.
Any decent CM worthy of the position would have postponed everything so that they could concentrate on sorting out the mess they claim to be the captain of.
I struggle to see what benefit he brings for the island at all. Would love to know the overall cost too.
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I note the bit about Chief Minister Lyndon Trott intends “over the next few days to write to former justice secretary Jack Straw and particularly Lord Bach, who was the Labour peer with responsibility for the Crown Dependencies, and to thank all their teams for the hard work they put in on Guernsey’s behalf and for their friendship on many occasions, particularly over the last two years”.
So it’s great news these people have been replaced by people from a party which has been out of govenment for 13 years is it?.
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If Lyndon Trott could think laterally for a moment he would be trembling in his shoes instead of writing postcards.
There is a new Government – of sorts. They, as every other UK government has done, will want to have a’special relationship’ with the US.
President Obama has declared his intention of working to abolish off-shore tax havens. He feels that there should be a bit more fairness about paying taxes, especially in the light of the banking scandals.
Is it so far fetched that he may suggest, in a manner that the UK might feel unable to refuse, that the UK abolishes its tax havens?
Can Lyndon Trott see beyond his own ego and understand that this could happen?
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With Tories having the majority, the “tax havens” will not be abolished. They have many rich people on their side, who fund them and use tax havens to store their money in.
But nothing would happen to us even if it wasn’t the Tories in charge.
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So Coyote, what would you do? Bury your head in the sand and hope that Obama and the UK Govt go away?
The Chief Minister goes to Washington to fight for Guernsey. In making cordial relations with Westminster, he battles for Guernsey.
Do you think he just wants new names in his address book to show off? Dealing with these people and representing Guernsey is his job, not his ego talking.
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GG the Tories do NOT have a majority. That is just the problem.
Tucker Guernsey is a VERY small island. The UK COALITION government contains LibDems who have VERY strong views on taxation. If you read the New York Times you will see that President Obama is VERY determined to abolish tax havens.
So, yes, if I was Lyndon Trott I wouldn’t be spending my time sending postcards to yesterday’s men.
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Coyote, they still have the majority, they’re not first past the post, but it’s still a majority.
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GG
The Tories got 306 seats, a party needs 326 for a majority.
The Tories do not have a majority and had to make a deal with the Lib Dems to secure that majority by combining their 306 with the Lib Dems 57.
We do not yet know what the Tories had to hand over to secure the coalition. Their 2 big things were voting reform and abolishment of tax havens.
Word on the street is don’t expect voting reforms anytime soon, other than internal voting in the commons.
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GG
No mate, if they get less than half its called a minority, cuz the majority voted for someone else!
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The Conservative Party does hold the majority of seats, however not enough of a majority to win the election outright, hence the need for a coalition of some kind. The combined number of seats of the parties in the coalition pass the test for an outright majority, hence they win. In theory we could have ended up with all kinds of parties joining forces to form a Government.
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The first stress fractures in the golden goose are already showing, the days of the the current guernsey are numbered, who knows what the next one will be like………29m in the red, that at a rough guess is just under 500 GBP for every person on the island, most could pay this off, but a lot cant even get 50 quid together…..I am so pleased that I am now living in a place a long way away from an island that was my home, I was born there and grew up there, but it is nothing like it could be…fletcher had the right idea!
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GG
The Tories gained the most seats but it was not a majority on its own. They needed at least 326 seats for that and they were over twenty short of an overall majority, hence their coalition with the LibDems. Unfortunately such coalitions rarely last long in UK governments.
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Lets hope the LibDems dont put forward any Robin Hood policy,Guernsey is doing very well from its rob the poor,and middle earner to ease the path of the Rich .
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Simon
Majority refers to majority of seats not votes.
The labour government had a majority of seats but nowhere near a majority of votes.
Coyote
The last coalition in the UK lasted five years and was seen as a success.
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I was talking in mathematical terms, they still had the majority of seats compared to other parties, but were not first past the post. Truth Man’s comment echoes mine.
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GG, what you mean is that they have the greatest number of seats. But that does not mean that they have a majority, or the majority. They only have the majority if they have more than half
Truth Man may echo you, but he is also wrong!
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Stephen John,
When you said Labour had a majority of seats, were you referring to before the 2010 election? If not, you have me baffled, as I believe the Conservatives now hold the majority, with 306 seats, the next largest seated party being Labour with 258 seats. I stand to be corrected however, so please feel free to tell me if I’m wrong!
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Right let’s just clear this one up now. The Conservatives do NOT have a majority, a majority is MORE THAN HALF of a group. GG, you are confusing a majority with a plurality.
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TL & Dean:
You have both won the prize! You’re quite right, majority is more than half. I was also causing confusion by muddling majority with most!
That still does not clear up my question to Stephen John however, where he states Labour had the majority. I’m assuming he meant pre-election 2010.
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What’s in a name?
Neither Vince Cable nor President Obama will get very far in dealing with tax havens until they can come up with a definition of tax haven.
As you can see from the newspapers people use all sorts of definitions with the result that there is no agreement as to whether any particular territory is or is not a tax haven.
And, another thing, I see that most members of the UK Cabinet now have the title of ‘Secretary’. When are the heads of States departments going to have their titles changed accordingly?
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I agree David Cranch. The phrase ‘tax haven’ means different things to different people and there is no standard definition. If ‘tax haven’ means low tax jurisdiction then Guernsey is a tax haven, if it means a place where illegal tax activities (evasion) are encouraged and supported then Guernsey is not a tax haven.
Also interesting to note that even the TJN rates the USA/Delaware as the world’s most secretive tax jurisdiction, with the City of London in 5th and Guernsey and Jersey outside the ‘top ten’.
Perhaps Obama and Cable at al should get their own houses in order before pointing their rather sullied fingers at us?
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Such a comment from Le Trotteur is typical of the insular and selfish attitude the SOG hold. Never mind what might be best for the greater good of Britain – let’s all just keep the financiers of Guernsey happy by keeping their noses in the trough a bit longer.
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Jimbo – they are elected to represent the people of Guernsey, not of “Britain”. You can disagree with their views about what is good (or not) for Guernsey, but I don’t see why they should look out for Britain as a whole. The UK does a pretty good job of looking after itself without looking after our interests (as it is supposed to do).
The UK electorate obviously felt that the Tories represent something that is attractive (albeit not quite attractive enough…) and so why should we feel entitled to challenge that view?
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Martino
President Obama [and Vince cable actually for that matter] are caring and democratic in a way that Guernsey can only dream about. If you had bothered to read what President Obama actually said, instead of studying his supposedly sullied fingers, you would realise he believes that EVERYONE should pay a fair share of tax. Personally I don’t see much wrong in that, given the global fiancial difficulties, but no doubt Martino is still stuck in 1204 and bad King John mode, believing that only the nasty little serfs should pay tax.
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Don’t get me wrong coyote, I have a lot of time for Obama and a soft spot for Vince too but they can’t have their cake and eat it. They can’t bang on about offshore tax havens when they both have an onshore tax haven (Delaware and City of London) in their own back yards. That’s the nub of the issue here.
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Even if a top earner’as tax is capped at say £150,000 they still pay the same as almost 7 times as much as an average person, and dont consume nearly any required public services like Joe Public does!
This is clearly a fair share of tax to pay for what they consume!
We can shop around for car insurance, why not shop around for the taxation you are willing to pay?
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