Chief Minister Howard Quayle says businesses and residents need not panic amid the confusion of Brexit.

Mr Quayle also said he believes there will be a ’hard, no deal’ scenario happening’ but he hoped all sides in the UK parliament could come together in unity for the sakes of everyone, including the Crown Dependencies.

Asked to predict what he believes the outcome on March 29 would be he said it would be a so-called ’hard Brexit.’ He had earlier told the Brexit and Beyond event he believed this would be because there was an ’institutional stubbornness’ in the UK corridors of power.

But he later told Business News: ’I hope sincerely I am wrong. I see an unwillingness maybe to negotiate a deal where one party is seen to be the champion of that deal.’

He admitted: ’It worries me now but as I say I hope they will come together in unity for the sake of the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies.

’At the end of the day they will be voting, Conservative, Labour, DUP, the Liberals, and independents, Green, etc, they have to have harmony.

’When you see that Theresa May’s deal was defeated by 230 votes you see so many versions of what people want, trying to get a majority to agree on a way forward will be incredibly hard and that’s why I’ve been saying now for several months that I could see a hard, no deal situation happening.

’But I sincerely hope that I’m proved wrong.

’I have therefore positioned the island to prepare for a no deal scenario. That has been my key positioning and therefore if we are pleasantly proved wrong we are already well prepared and therefore we can go forward having covered as many of the angles as possible.’

He was asked about news reports that there have been concerns in the UK media about supplies of medicines in the event of a Brexit no deal.

He said: ’Our Department of Health and Social Care has been having regular discussions with UK counterparts who have ensured that the Isle of Man will be treated as part of the UK and therefore we will not be at the end of the supply chain. We will be part of it and should we have a particular shortage of a type of drug then that will be reported to the UK central area [central planning] who will do their utmost to help us as if we were a full part of the UK.’

Mr Quayle said there was an ’awful lot of uncertainty and there’s an awful lot at stake here.

’As a neutral, which is what the Isle of Man is, we have to navigate those waters and hope they come up with the best possible deal for the United Kingdom because as 80% of what we trade is with the UK, we want them to be successful because that ripple effect will help us.’

Business News asked if he felt for the businesses who were wondering what was going on.

He replied: ’We are all living in uncertain times and we as a government, behind the scenes, have spent a significant amount of our time trying to look after those sectors, the freedom of movement of people, fishing and agricultural products and the manufacturing sector have been my key concerns when I have been having meetings behind the scenes with the UK government and we will work with whoever is in power to ensure that we look after the interests of the Isle of Man.

’But I have been conscious from a fishing point of view that 90% of the product is sold in to the European Union. And because of the type of product where it can go off quickly, products such as queenies and scallops, so it is a tough time for our fishermen and we are working behind the scenes to ensure we do our utmost to get the best possible outcome for them.

’Equally there could be opportunities out there , if the UK comes out of the EU there could well be opportunities for fishermen.

’We have no rights at the moment to land white fish and there fore that might be something in the future that could be negotiated.’

Asked if he had a specific message for island residents, should they be thinking of stocking up in preparation for the proposed March 29 withdrawal from Europe.

He replied: ’I think there could be a period of time when there will be delays in getting items. [But] I think buying local is a key message here. We are self sufficient in bread. When that boat does not sail the amount of bread bought from places such as Ramsey Bakery and I’m sure Noa Bakehouse, massively increases.

’If people support local Manx produce, whether it be milk, cheese, meat, vegetables and all our fishing products, if we support local and we are more self sufficient as an island, then these sort of issues won’t have a major impact on us.’

Mr Quayle stressed his message was ’Don’t panic’.

He pointed to an example of how a few years ago ’there was a push for people to go out and get a vaccine for bird flu.

’It was highly topical and lots of vaccine was bought. But a lot of it ended up in a skip.

’It’s getting that balance right. If you stockpile you have to remember certain items only have a shelf life of weeks or months.’

Chris Allen, president of the island’s Chamber of Commerce, said the event, with more than 200 people present at the Comis Hotel, Mount Murray went really well.

He said: It was well supported which indicates how much interest businesses had in Brexit.

’The Chief Minister, Della Fletcher, executive director for external relations and David Corlett, head of the Brexit team, were able to articulate what they have been doing behind the scenes and I think that gave a level of reassurance to the Chamber membership that we are doing something and preparing.

’It was a bit unfortunate that we did not have a deal to talk about because if there was a deal we could have discussed the finer implications of that.

’Clearly we do not have a deal at this point but having said that it was useful to understand that the government has prepared and has been thinking about the key topics that are likely to impact the island particularly in the worst case scenario with no deal .

’And it helped for businesses to have a question and answer session with the government.’

Mr Allen had said earlier Brexit had been ’gnawing’ at him. He admitted the issues had been causing obvious concerns for business people.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle addresses the Brexit and Beyond event. Joining him on the panel were Della Fletcher, executive director for external relations and David Corlett, head of the government’s Brexit team