Nigel Wood, principal, Harley Partners, South Quay, Douglas, writes here about his fears that there are real dangers for the island’s future in the light of the announcement on beneficial ownership.

‘The recent announcement that the Isle of Man (along with our cousins in the Channel Islands) is to adopt a corporate public register of beneficial ownership, has been hailed as being in our strategic interests and our standing as a responsible jurisdiction to commit to further develop the accessibility and transparency of our register of beneficial ownership for companies.

‘I perceive this to be a naively positive view, over which I have much sympathy, but in reality, it is a spin, that is seeking to make the best of a bad job.

‘That we are independently minded and spirited is not in doubt. However, I suspect in this matter we have had very little choice.

‘Perhaps it went like this?

‘You will do this (or else) because the fallout of us legislating for you, will create an even bigger constitutional crisis, than the creation of a public register, that really will erode your independence – a road that you probably do not want to go down right now. And by the way guys – wake up and smell the coffee – this is going to happen.

‘Some 25 years ago, I wrote in an article that we should ‘never underestimate the propensity of the UK Government to use us in a pawn in their chess game of negotiations, with Europe’.

‘And here we are.

‘When this particular initiative was first mooted some years ago and the somewhat bizarre tandem bicycle trip, of Dame Margaret Hodge and Andrew Mitchell began its plebeian tour de l’horizon (imagine the language on the hills!); the reality is that the islands (collectively), put up sensible, realistic, cogent and legal arguments, as to why this perceived erosion of liberty was completely unnecessary.

‘The availability of a ‘‘private’’ (governmental) and controlled register of beneficial ownership, sensibly available in the right circumstances to legitimate inquiry, properly controlled and administered to the rules of law and a robust judiciary, should have been enough. We already have rules to prevent terrorist financing, money laundering, tax evasion – quite right too, and this island has an excellent demonstrable record of being in the vanguard of international standards.

‘So my conclusion is that I am disappointed, as I perceive we have been given little choice but to adopt this initiative.

‘It it is cold comfort farm indeed that we are all in it together with the Channel Islands, because in a world where a sophisticated client base asks, “where in the world can I do this best?”, it is no longer simply about inter island rivalry.

‘Furthermore, it is not difficult to overtly own a company, that has entered into contractual arrangements to shift all but nominal value, elsewhere.

‘In the quest to rush headlong into a world where everybody wants to know everything about everybody, (let’s vote for transparency another word for the politics of envy), I fear there is a danger that we may lose the very thing that attracts honest international families and companies to our shores.

‘That is a deep and resonant respect for confidentiality, honesty and good service, where an element of privacy (not secrecy), may be sensibly preserved, to protect and nurture, not hide.

‘But it is the rationale that sits behind this register that concerns me more than the register itself, as I fear this is seeking to erode the very foundations of what we stand for and represent as an international jurisdiction.

‘I fear that this may simply be accepted as yet another move to be internationally compliant.

‘We could be the most compliant jurisdiction in the world but have no jobs and no tax, to run our services, our hospital and look after the vulnerable in our society.

‘No worries then – as a famous UK politician once remarked: ‘‘Close them down and tell them to return an MP to Westminster.”

‘We could be truly dependent.

‘One does not have to look too far (the Western Isles of Scotland) to see the economic effect of losing one’s independence.

‘But given the governance regime that we have witnessed and seen practised by the UK government (ongoing) in the last three years, over their handling of international negotiations and Brexit negotiations generally; How could we expect anything else?

‘As one of my former friends (and I have lot of former friends), once said: “People in grass houses should not throw bones”.’