The Isle of Man still has work to do to make sure it is ready for any Brexit eventuality.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle gave the warning as part of his state of the nation address to Tynwald today (Tuesday).

He said the year ahead would see Brexit become a reality and, with the in-fighting at Westminster and the laborious international negotiations, it remained possible the UK could leave the EU without any deal.

’There is still a huge amount of work that needs to be done to make sure that the Isle of Man is totally prepared for that scenario and indeed for all scenarios,’ he said.

’This is one of the greatest challenges that a Manx Government and parliament has ever faced.’

The Manx Government’s own European Union and Trade Bill is due to be introduced to the House of Keys later this month.

He described it as ’probably the most important piece of legislation that this honourable court will need to consider in a generation’.

Mr Quayle said the summit between the EU and UK last month had not gone to plan, he was now ’picking up more of a note of optimism’.

He admitted that difficult times lay ahead, however.

’Deal or no deal we are making the necessary preparations so that we are ready, whatever happens, and we will have made the necessary preparations for either scenario.’

The chief minister also referenced a range of domestic matters in his address, from the purchase of the Steam Packet to the problems faced by those on low incomes.

Other international challenges remained over financial regulation on the world stage.

Mr Quayle said: ’We will continue down the path of delivering sustainable policies at home and meeting international standards abroad.’