Chief Minister Howard Quayle has praised the island’s role in the economies of other regions of the British Isles.

Mr Quayle was speaking to the Examiner after he returned from Northern Ireland where he visited two Manx-owned aircraft factories.

He said: ’Everyone looks upon the Isle of Man as we up cycle money in to London, which we do through our finance sector, but we are much more than that.

’We have got 24 different sectors in the economy and we are creating jobs in the north west and across the north of England, in Wales and in Northern Ireland.

’So my message is to get out to the leaders of those regions and say "this is what the Isle of Man is doing, can we work in conjunction with one another".

’And by doing that, we can attract business to each other.’

During his visit to Northern Ireland, Mr Quayle again met with DUP Leader and First Minister Arlene Foster.

He also met, for the first time, with Sinn Fein’s deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill.

Mr Quayle said the visit was a ’good opportunity’ to meet Mrs O’Neill and build on the island’s strong relationship throughout the island of Ireland.

He added: ’Everywhere I was going, and I had a number of visits to see how they had regenerated their town centre, how they deal with social isolation and suicide, and everyone was saying comments like "I met my wife in the Isle of Man or I’ve had great holidays on the island".

’The warmth towards the Isle of Man and the people, and vice-versa, is really good, so why not look at ways of sharing information?

’There are things that we do well and could help them with and there are things they do well and could help us with.’