The island’s relationship with the United Kingdom will not be changing dramatically after Brexit.

Speaking to the Examiner after Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party won a big majority in last’s week general election, Chief Minister Howard Quayle said he expects ’business as usual’ for the Isle of Man.

Mr Quayle said that the new VAT sharing agreement between the UK and the island will ensure clarity in the future.

He added: ’Our main customer, 80% of our trade, is with the UK so it was really important that we ensured that the free flow of goods from the Isle of Man, and people, to the United Kingdom, wasn’t impacted by what the UK does.

’When the UK leaves, you won’t have to go through customs whenever you sail to Heysham or Liverpool or fly into the UK, so we’ve got all that ready.

’We’ve also got all our legislation ready to go the minute that the UK confirms a date. We’ve got it ready parked to move forward.’

Mr Quayle said that the island must wait to see what Mr Johnson does over one of the UK’s withdrawal agreement’s most contentious parts, the ’border down the Irish Sea’.

However, he believes that the election has given Mr Johnson more political capital to progress with the sort of Brexit he wants and that it is ’really important that we continue to monitor it’.

Mr Quayle added: ’We’ve had unprecedented access to the negotiations and the UK planning and we have good friendships with negotiators and politicians.

’We’re constantly monitoring it to ensure we’re prepared.’

The Chief Minister added that the Tory win meant the threat of a UK government interfering in Manx politics had lessened.

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was more hostile to what it considered to be tax havens.

Mr Quayle said: ’We have worked hard to build up a relationship and more of an understanding about what the Isle of Man does, which was starting to show a good return in the levels of understanding, especially in the north west [of England].

’That’s obviously the area around the island where we do a lot of work.’

He said that the Manx government’s strategy of attending the Labour party’s conferences had borne fruit.

Politicians now better understood that the island will spend £60 million in the next 12 months in the north west, he said. He said that the island paid money into the English NHS, sent students to universities in the region and was investing in the ferry terminal in Liverpool.

’I also pointed out that there are jobs in Wales which were generated by our aeronautical sector,’ he added.

Mr Quayle refused to be drawn on whether he believed that Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have both elected nationalist majorities to represent them at Westminster and voted remain, would seek to make constitutional changes to their relationship with the rest of the UK.

He said: ’Obviously we remain neutral.

’In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon’s party has increased their number of seats.

’But equally, they need the agreement from the UK parliament to have another referendum and Boris has said he doesn’t support Scotland leaving, so that’s for them to sort out.

’My duty is to ensure the Isle of Man is well prepared and successful.’