Mr President
When I requested that a statement on European Union negotiations be included on the Tynwald Order Paper it was in the hope – perhaps more than the expectation – that an agreement would have been reached by this point.
However, Honourable Members will be very much aware that this is not, unfortunately, the case.
There remain very real and significant differences between the two sides, and this makes it difficult to assess what the final outcome will be.
The European Union has said that it is willing to continue talking, but needs the United Kingdom to move its position.
The United Kingdom Prime Minister has stated that he cannot see much point in continuing to talks unless the European Union changes its approach to negotiations.
There are suggestions that talks will continue this week or next. But this will only happen if the two sides believe that an agreed outcome is within reach. We shall see.
Mr President
It is well known that the most significant stumbling blocks are – and have been all along – fisheries, governance and what is known as the level playing field.
On the level playing field, the concerns lie with the European Union. They want to ensure that the United Kingdom does not take measures that might give their businesses an unfair advantage of their European counterparts.
The European Union is seeking guarantees on environmental standards, on labour protection and competition law.
The biggest stumbling block in this area is what the European Union calls state aid. This is also known as state subsidies.
The European Union wants guarantees from the United Kingdom that it will not provide financial support to its industries that will might give them an unfair advantage.
The United Kingdom argues that it is willing to meet international standards in this area and that what the European Union is looking for is way beyond that.
On fisheries, at a very basic level, the European Union wants to maintain its right of access to United Kingdom waters, and to fish quotas, similar to what it has now.
The United Kingdom however wants annual negotiations, which will determine access to each other’s waters and shares of quota on an annual basis.
It also wants to change the way in which quotas are arrived at, and how they are shared out
And in relation to Governance, there is still disagreement between the two parties on how the agreement will be managed.
So what does this mean for us?
The Isle of Man Government’s clear and stated position has been that we want –
- For goods and people to continue to move freely between the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom;
- For our goods to access the European Union on the same terms as United Kingdom goods do. This remains to be agreed;
- And to take advantage of any other opportunities as they may arise. Although with the scope of agreement narrowing now, those are very few
Whilst the talks are ongoing, we cannot say what the negotiations are going to mean for the United Kingdom, or for the Isle of Man.
We know we have managed to safeguard free movement of goods between the Island and the United Kingdom.
But when the final shape of a deal becomes clearer, the Council of Ministers will need to determine whether what we end up with is in the best interests of the Island.
And Tynwald will have the chance to agree – or not – to give effect to those arrangements in law.
I know I have said this before, but the next two or three weeks will be crucial
Mr President
Something else which I have said before, is that we must prepare for every eventuality.
The outcome of the talks is - of course - of significance to us. But at the end of the transition period, European Union law ceases to apply to the United Kingdom and to the Isle of Man. We need to prepare for this no matter what happens.
In fact most of the changes we will see at the end of this year will happen regardless of the outcome of talks.
We will shortly be relaunching our information campaign that provides people with the guidance they will need to be ready for 2021.
This applies to people who travel to the European Union; people who do business with the European Union, and people who live here and who come from a European Union country.
These are things we need to do, whatever happens
This information is already available on our website at www.gov.im/brexit
We have updated our guide for Isle of Man residents and businesses. The Department for Enterprise has also updated and amended its checklist for business
We hope the guidance is clear and easy to use.
I want to stress that there may be many people - in fact most people - who will not need to take any action or do anything differently.
Mr President
As well as the things that individuals and businesses may need to do, in Government we are re-appraising the work that we did on contingency planning in preparation for No Deal last year.
As we discussed earlier, there is the additional complication with COVID 19 re-emerging in many United Kingdom regions, and across the European Union more widely.
However, our focus remains to ensure we have a high degree of readiness in respect of key impact areas including medicines and medical supplies, food supply, energy and fuel.
I can assure Honourable Members that the degree of assurance that we currently have is high.
But I also want to be clear that we will work throughout the remainder of the year to refine our plans, and to test our assumptions.
Mr President,
I had hoped to come before this Honourable Court today and bring some clarity.
And although negotiations continue, we are clear that we must prepare for the end of the transition period, whatever happens.
Thank you.
