Businesses were pleased to be able to take part in the event held as part of the government’s ’Are you ready for Brexit’ campaign.

An estimated 50 members of the business community were at the gathering at the Palace Hotel.

They included Geoff Rickard, general manager, mails, at the Isle of Man Post Office.

He said he and other business people appreciated the chance to sit down with government officials amid all the undertainty over the UK’s exit from the European Union.

David Corlett, head of the Brexit team in the Cabinet Office said there was a simplified web site and a refreshed guide.

He said: ’Many people in the Isle of Man, being outside of the EU as we are, may find that Brexit does not touch their lives.

’But there is a call to action for certain groups of people, such as those who intend to travel to the EU, people who are EU citizens living in the Isle of Man and people who run businesses that buy from or sell to customers in the EU.’

Mr Corlett said the political landscape was ’difficult to read at the moment’.

He added: ’It’s fair to say that recent events have been unprecedented to say the least and what will happen next is strangely difficult to call.’

He told the audience that he understood what they wanted more than anything from a business perspective was certainty.

Both he and Stephen Beevers, the Brexit manager in the Department for Enterprise, stressed that Brexit contingency plans in the Isle of Man have stayed the same, despite the political uncertainty in the UK.

Annie Taylor, head of the passport, immigration and nationality service, released figures revolving around the Isle of Man’s European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) which began at the end of March this year.

She said 190 EUSS applications had been received between April and August and they had all been approved.

She said there had been a ’surge’ in applications during September.

The scheme enables EU, EEA (European Economic Area) and Swiss citizens and their families, resident in the Isle of Man, to obtain an immigration status under the Isle of Man immigration rules to continue living in the Isle of Man.

If there is a ’deal’ EU, EEA and Swiss citizens must be resident in the Isle of Man by December 31, 2020, to be eligible to apply. The deadline to apply will be June 30, 2021.

If there is ’no-deal’ EU, EEA and Swiss citizens must be resident in the Isle of Man by the date the UK leaves the EU (exit day). The deadline for application will be December 31, 2020.