The island has to prepare for the UK’s departure from the EU ’no matter what’, Chief Minister Howard Quayle told the Chamber of Commerce’s Brexit and Beyond meeting.

Mr Quayle MHK was on stage at the Comis Hotel, Mount Murray, with Della Fletcher, executive director for external relations and David Corlett, head of the government’s Brexit team.

He told the audience ofmore than 200 business people: ’They say a week is a long time in politics and that has certainly been true of this particular week.

’As we all know, the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal was rejected - overwhelmingly - on Tuesday. On Wednesday she survived a vote of no confidence, by a very small margin. And we now wait to see what is going to happen next.

’So, although the first draft of this speech was drawn up last week, it has been re-written several times since then. But if we look at where we are now, to a large extent - in terms of the facts and the issues, and ignoring the politics for now - we have not moved any further forward since the beginning of December.’

Mr Quayle said the Isle of Man Government is continuing to work towards a March 29 deadline, ’and we will continue to plan for a hard Brexit’.

’We are also working with colleagues in the UK to ensure we are addressing the various contingency planning areas where we need to ensure vital services or supplies are protected.

’For the Isle of Man, these include energy and fuel supplies, continuity of transport links, medicines and food supplies . The level of engagement we have had with the UK has been excellent.

’While facing their own challenges, they are also including us in their planning.

’During our discussions on contingency planning, we have been able to gain very high levels of assurance from certain UK departments that we will not be adversely affected by a "No Deal" exit.

’A good example of this is fuel supplies and energy.

’In other areas we are included within the UK’s plans to mitigate potential problems. A good example here is in relation to the supply of medicines and medical devices. We are included within NHS purchasing systems, and we have reassurance at UK ministerial level that we will be treated on an equal footing with UK NHS trusts.

’We will be included within the UK’s emergency response machinery to ensure issues which may occur in the island can be fed into the UK system and dealt with’.