Guernsey has responded to the TUC report on tax losses it causes the UK, published on Monday:

GUERNSEY has cost the UK almost £48m. in lost tax over the last three years, the Trades Union Congress has claimed.

The TUC has urged ministers to clamp down on ‘tax havens’ such as the Crown Dependencies.

But States tax adviser Jonathan Hooley said the claim - that offshore avoidance cost the UK £4bn a year - was based on assumptions. The TUC had assumed that all UK residents with money offshore were paying tax at 40%. ‘Some would be taxed at a lower rate,’ he said. The TUC had also assumed that all investment returns would be taxed at 40%. ‘There could be lower rates of tax applied,’ he said.

Sure, some investment returns hidden in Guernsey might be taxed at lower rates. A tiny part. Maybe. Just maybe. Not enough to distort the results. That’s for sure.

And that’s it, apparently. No denial that it happens. No defence of Guernsey's deliberate decision to facilitate tax evasion. Just a statement that the estimate is wrong.

They really are on the back foot now.