We want to keep them happy, yet we can’t always expect them to do what’s best for us

They already knew that there were quite a lot of economic and financial problems for them to tackle, but they couldn’t have known that they would be facing the prospect of a constitutional crisis as well.

A few of the new boys already had suspicions about the way the UK treats the Crown Dependencies, but you can hardly blame UK ministers for putting the interests of their electorate before that of the islands. When the two clash, we all know who wins.

So we get the withdrawal of the catchily entitled Low Value Consignment Relief because Jersey’s fulfilment industry forces down prices on the UK High Street. Those in the industry are so incensed that there’s talk of trying for a judicial review, although that doesn’t seem very likely.

The islands have complained that they have been singled out for special treatment and the way that UK ministers constantly harp on about Jersey and Guernsey indicates that we are, indeed, the main targets. Denials of discrimination appear hollow, even if it’s difficult to see how the UK government would remove a VAT concession used by Jersey and Guernsey companies, yet leave the loophole open for Swiss companies to exploit.

Maybe it’s got something to do with the islands being treated by the UK as though they were in the EU whereas, of course, Switzerland clearly isn’t.

If, indeed, the UK is being discriminatory, then this raises another interesting question for the islands. They have gone out of their way to improve relations with UK ministers and leading MPs, to the extent of attending party conferences (not including the Labour one, of course).

Guernsey’s Chief Minister has been particularly keen to meet the key players face to face and create a rapport with them. A fat lot of good that’s done. It makes you wonder whether it’s worth the effort cozying up to the UK government if they ignore the islands’ interests when it suits them.

Of course, it’s not just LVCR that we have to worry about. Although it appears that the UK have been supportive of our efforts to win EU approval for our zero-ten tax structure, can we rely on this support? Well, of course not. That support will last just so long as it suits the UK.

History is full of examples where the UK Government has put pressure on the islands to acquiesce in matters that are clearly not in the islands’ best interests. You can’t blame them, of course. They have to do what’s best for them and would not want to upset good relations with their EU partners and allies just for the sake of protecting the Channel Islands. How could you expect anything different?

Unfortunately the Island is in a difficult position because it would like to have its cake and eat it. We rely heavily on the UK as by far our biggest trading partner and supplier and, of course, the Island’s finance industry is sometimes described as an adjunct to the City of London. So it’s not in our best interests to upset our cousins to the north. We want to keep them happy, yet we can’t expect them to always do what’s best for the Island.

Luckily there are not many occasions when our interests diverge completely, but it is likely to become a more frequent occurrence as international relations become more complex and as the Island’s main industry looks further afield for business. What is certain is that the new Council of Ministers will have to come to grips with the dilemma that our best friend is occasionally our worst enemy.

The man entrusted to look after our ‘foreign’ affairs has considerable experience of dealing with the UK, but even he seems to have lost patience with their recent moves over LVCR. In his speech during the States election for chief minister, the former Bailiff expressed his disgust at the UK government for withdrawing LVCR without any consideration for the hardship it would cause all those put out of work in the Island. It was a hard hitting speech which indicated that the soon-to-be-appointed foreign affairs supremo will not be a pushover where the UK is concerned.

Similarly, the re-elected Treasury Minister was also talking tough at the recent Jersey International Business School forum. He said that ‘Jersey would take a hard line on the protection of its sovereignty in its dealings with the UK government in future’, according to the report in this newspaper.

We will not allow the coalition government to treat the Island as if it was part of the UK, he said, and the reason that it is behaving in this way is because of lack of knowledge about what the Island stands for and how it behaves. That means getting the message across that the Island is not involved in any ‘predatory economic activity’, according to the Treasury Minister.

That is certainly a prerequisite for good relations not only with the UK, but for all our other neighbours as well. But it rather depends on what you mean by predatory economic activity. There are those who would say that the fulfilment industry fits that description perfectly and there are even those who would say – ignoring any legal technicalities – that zero-ten is also predatory.

So there is no easy let-out for Jersey in its relations with the UK or any other of our neighbours. We might not think we’re being predatory, but others would disagree.

This highlights the weakness in Jersey’s international position. We will bend over backwards to meet any international obligation imposed on us and maintain the highest of international standards, if failing to do so would impact on our economy. But that’s never enough for some people. We have to be whiter than white and go further, just to counteract the misunderstandings and ignorance about who we are and what we do.

Of course we have to try and get our message across and educate our critics, but if the UK doesn’t understand us, how can we expect the EU or anyone else to do so?

Education can only go so far, and at the end of the day we have to stand up for what we believe to be right, whatever the UK or any of our critics think. That will require courage and, probably, a certain amount of loosening of the apron strings joining us to the UK.

Peter Body is editor of Business Brief magazine