The fulfilment issue is both political and personal, and that’s when things get nasty

As you read this, it is highly likely that the full details of his pre-Budget statement will already be out, and with it confirmation that the VAT loophole which allows companies in Jersey to send goods like CDs and DVDs to the UK tax-free will be closed on 1 April.

It is the news that the industry and thousands of Islanders have been dreading. And the build-up to today has been interesting and, perhaps more importantly, hugely telling – this past week particularly so.

We all knew it was coming, but when I turned on my TV and saw chief secretary to the UK Treasury Danny Alexander telling the world on BBC Breakfast that the money brought in by the ‘crackdown’ on the fulfilment industry would be used to fund an infrastructure programme aimed at boosting the UK economy, I was taken aback, to say the least.

I personally felt under attack, hard done by and angry in a way that the whole fulfilment debate had up until then failed to awaken in me. All of a sudden, I realised it was my problem too, not just someone else’s.

I watched Mr Alexander with contempt and tutted my way through breakfast as he rattled off the big plans the UK government had to boost the economy.

Had I been living in Manchester (which is due to get a new rail link with Leeds) or the outskirts of Newcastle (which is to have its Metro system upgraded), or if I were one of the thousands of British citizens currently unemployed, I am sure I would have felt bolstered and proud of his plans, happy that my government was doing something to tackle the problems and protect our futures.

But I live in Jersey, so I felt none of those things. Instead, I felt contempt and huge resentment towards the UK in general, not just its government.

OK, so those feelings are perhaps a bit simplistic and, some might say, over the top, but it was early on a Monday morning and the news that the British government was already rubbing its hands together about the amount of money it could collect at our expense was not what I wanted to hear.

I also thought it was a bit rude: did they not realise that there were jobs at stake in the Channel Islands? If they did, they certainly didn’t seem to care.

My feelings were compounded the following day when Mr Osborne commented on the crackdown on LVCR (Low Value Consignment Relief) in Parliament and the politicians around him all cheered as he spoke about it helping ‘the struggling UK high street’. Again, I did a lot of tutting.

I mention all this because it shows how the fulfilment debate (hereafter ‘the debate’) has become a ‘them and us’ scenario. The UK has become the enemy and we the downtrodden victims.

It is the first time I have really felt like this, and it isn’t something I like. All of a sudden, it feels as though Jersey is the poor relation that the UK can conveniently un-invite to the party when it suits.

And perhaps this debate is just the latest way of having yet another go at us.

I fully appreciate that the issue is all a lot more complex, but on the surface this is how it will appear to many people.

There have also been suggestions that the fulfilment industry was offered up as a sacrificial lamb in exchange for greater acceptance of our status as an offshore finance centre.

Either way, this latest debate is both political and personal, and that’s when things really do get nasty.

Of course there is the other side to the debate that I have thus far failed to acknowledge – the side that says the UK government is merely doing what is right for its people.

In the current economic climate, all governments are trying to find extra resources and they have a duty to explore all avenues for their people.

If, for example, we knew there was a loophole here in Jersey which if closed could net us an extra £100 million a year (think lower GST, school milk, a down payment on a new hospital, perhaps) we would want it closed too, on the face of it.

But that’s just it: on the face of it. Is this really going to bring in that much for the UK? What about the high cost of collecting the extra tax receipts? And what about the increasingly likely possibility that fulfilment firms will simply up sticks from Jersey or Guernsey and set up shop elsewhere?

The UK says it would then just work to close them down too, but realistically, how long will that take?

Mr Osborne has just seen an easy way of gaining support, and with it future votes. He says all the right things as far as the UK taxpayer and his political colleagues go. But it is also a selfish way out. It is a sad fact, but in times of economic uncertainty we do all tend to become a bit more selfish. But it is also the very time when working together is most needed.

Yes, every little helps and all that, but if the Chancellor believes that targeting Channel Island jobs and businesses is going to solve his problems, or indeed make much of a difference at all, then not only is he ill-informed, but he is also downright deluded. He would also be well advised to remember the occasions when the Channel Islands do come in handy, through the many hundreds of millions of pounds from our little Island that still ends up in the UK economy.

But for now it’s now up to us to respond. We need to explore our options, consider the possible outcomes and work out a contingency plan.

And, perhaps it is time that we, the Channel Islands, questioned how we work with the likes of Mr Osborne and the UK in general into the future.

They have sent out a clear message: isn’t it time we returned the favour?