The Manx Government should be doing more to ensure the island’s interests are represented as the UK heads towards Brexit, the Liberal Vannin leader believes.

With the prospect of a no-deal Brexit appearing to loom larger following much of the Tory leadership contest rhetoric, Kate Beecroft urged Chief Minister Howard Quayle to put more effort into ensuring that the UK Government knows what the island’s interests are.

In the House of Keys last week, Mrs Beecroft (Douglas South) said: ’It is clearly an international matter and the House of Commons Justice Committee said that where there was an international matter the UK had a duty to represent our interests.

’Therefore we need to make very clear what our interests are and make it clear to Manx residents and make sure that we are representing what they want and push for those and we should have a separate representation.’

Mr Quayle insisted that was what the Manx Government was doing already and representations had been made repeatedly.

But he added: ’At the end of the day, as I say time and time again, we cannot direct the wind, we just trim our sails accordingly.’

Earlier, Mrs Beecroft asked Mr Quayle to spell out what the island wanted to happen with Brexit.

The Chief Minister said: ’What we are looking for, I suppose, is as close to the deal we currently have - freedom of movement of people, manufactured goods and agricultural goods.

’That is what we have currently and we would hope that after whatever the United Kingdom Government and its people decide, we can get as much of what we currently have as possible, and that is what we have been working to.’

Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey) said the Manx Government should also look to ’go beyond the status quo where that is in the island’s interest’.