History was made as Tynwald voted to take the Steam Packet into public ownership this week.

Following a three-hour debate, Tynwald voted by 23 votes to one in the Keys and unanimously in LegCo to acquire the ferry company for £124.3m.

The only member to vote against was LibVan leader Kate Beecroft.

Under the deal, negotiated between Treasury and the Steam Packet’s bank and hedge fund owners, government will acquire a 100% shareholding of parent company MIOM Ltd using £124.3m of cash reserves.

Some £76m will appear in the accounts as a loan.

Government will look at options to restructure that loan.

The state-run company will be run at arm’s length to government, as far away as possible from political interference.

Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan told Tynwald: ’This is more than just a company - this company is a national asset.’

He said if the government had simply renewed the current user agreement, the company would have been sold in months, possibly weeks, leading to new owners, new debt, new uncertainties.

Taking over when the user agreement ran out in 2026 was not a viable option either, he insisted, as the ferry operation would be run for cash for the next seven years.

It was feared that the company would simply take as much money as it could from the service and not invest for the future - because it would not need to.

Mr Cannan told Tynwald: ’We as a government have to think more broadly about the economic and social impact of our actions. That’s why now is the time to act.’

He said the figure of £124.3m represented the calculated value of the company to the existing shareholders if they ran the company for cash.

Mr Cannan accepted: ’Is it a fair price? I believe it is. We could well get it for less but at what price, what cost to the broader economy? This is not a short-term deal. This is government taking action in the national interest on behalf of the people of the island.

’It’s a lot of money. Are there risks? Of course there are risks - there are risks in every commercial operation. But be assured the order paper sets out the steps needed to reduce the risks, to reduce the taxpayers’ direct exposure.’

A condition of the sale was that it had to be concluded by 5pm on Friday, May 25, he revealed.

He said the Steam Packet’s owners had only been prepared to negotiate with certain safeguards in place regarding confidential and commercial information. Mr Cannan said the shareholders feared the business would suffer irreversible damage if the negotiations had taken place in public and then Tynwald had rejected the proposal.

Tim Baker (Ayre and Michael) said there was a number of compelling reasons why this was the right thing to do, offering a better return than leaving the funds in reserves.

’It’s a good investment on purely financial grounds,’ he said.

But Rob Callister (Onchan) questioned the timing of the deal, given that the value is in the user agreement and the monopoly controls Tynwald had put in place.

Chris Robertshaw (Douglas East) hailed the Treasury Minister’s speech as the finest he had heard since he became MHK. He said: ’This is an incredibly important day for the island.

Health Minister David Ashford said: ’There will always be naysayers. [But] I think it’s worth every penny. Let’s make a decision today we can look back on with pride.’

Kate Beecroft (LibVan, Douglas South) contended there were other options that should have been considered.

’I think it’s the wrong time and £124m certainly seems to be the wrong price,’ she said.

’We can’t discuss the valuation as it is confidential,’ she added, claiming other industry insiders suggested the value was more like £50m to £70m.

options

She called for CoMin not to sign any agreement with the Steam Packet until all other options had been debated and decided in Tynwald.

Home Affairs Minister Bill Malarkey said it was a ’blue riband’ day for him, having campaigned for such a move for almost eight years.

’I feel quite emotional,’ he admitted.

Manx Independent comment, page 18.