19 Dec Breakfast and Brexit: What does this mean for the Isle of Man?
We do have a voice in the UK and they are listening to us’ – the message that came from Isle of Man Government officials at the recent Brexit update breakfast held in conjunction with the Isle of Man Business Network.
More than one hundred members of the Island’s business community attended the event at the Sefton Hotel featuring a panel of experts including Della Fletcher (Director of External Relations, Cabinet Office), Carl Hawker (Deputy Chief Executive, Department for Enterprise) and Sandra Skuszka (Collector of Customs and Excise, Treasury), and moderated by Dan Davies (Interim Chief Executive, Department of Home Affairs).
Nearly six months on from a similar panel discussion at the Islexpo conference, Government revealed there is now much more focus on specific detail and has published a comprehensive series of Technical Notices which look at how different Brexit scenarios may impact local businesses and industry sectors.
The panel collectively agreed in the need to ensure the Island is most effectively positioned in a number of critical areas moving forward, and can do this more robustly when the impact on the UK is known. They also cited the need to plan for the worst case scenario of a ‘no deal’ Brexit on 29 March 2019 and ensure that our legislation ensures ‘business as usual’ as much as is possible.
Two key areas of concern that have been cited by local business owners include around resourcing, the impact on labour supply and access to skills, which recent revisions to the Locate.im strategy are designed to help, and around the supply of goods from the manufacturing and agriculture sectors in to the EU, and any resulting impact on future orders.
For further information on Brexit, please visit the Isle of Man Government’s Technical Notices at www.gov.im/Brexit. For further information on future Isle of Man Business Network events, please visit www.iombn.im.
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