Lamont Tells Jersey: Keep Independence Threat In Reserve
At a seminar in Jersey this
week former UK Chancellor Lord Lamont branded Prime Minister
Tony Blair a 'constitutional vandal' and warned the Channel Islands
that they should be concerned about retaining their independent
tax status. Lord Lamont expressed concern over two issues in particular
from a Channel Islands viewpoint, 'The first is an EU-wide withholding
tax. If the UK is not able to resist the introduction of withholding
tax, then that will have an effect. If it does negotiate a compromise,
then it will be questionable as to whether the UK government will
bother to defend the interests of the Channel Islands'. Lamont says the second issue
is the Blair government's handling of constitutional reform: 'they
have got drunk on constitutional change, and I think they could
be very careless on future constitutional issues'. Just last month Sir Alan Walters,
a former Thatcher economic advisor, said that the Channel Islands
should declare independence. However, Lord Lamont said that he
believed that Channel Islanders do not want independence from
the UK, but that in negotiating with the UK and the EU they should
'be prepared to play the independence card '…. and make it clear
that this is ultimately what would happen if the islands were
left facing the prospect of the destruction of their financial
services industry.' .
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