The Jersey Evening Post has reported the Maunday Thursday letter from Gordon Brown to Jersey premier Terry le Sueur.
As the paper notes:
In a strongly worded letter that was sent to Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur at the end of last week, Mr Brown told the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man that their place on the G20 ‚Äòwhite list’ did not mean that they were out of the woods.
And it added:
A personal letter from a UK Prime Minister to Jersey’s States is unusual in itself, but Mr Brown’s challenge that if ‚Äògenuine progress’ was not made he would bring the matter back to the G20 for more discussions will not have made comfortable reading for Jersey’s Chief Minister.
Their postcript?
However, Senator Le Sueur did not seem fazed by the letter. He described it as ‚Äòfairly non-committal’.
I think he’s sleep walking off a cliff.
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This is what the Guernsey Press said pre-empting the arrival of the letter
http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2009/04/14/fighting-the-drip-feed-of-animosity/
Why trying to achieve tax justice should be taken so personally from a ‘national’ media source is telling.
In the face of considerable peril Le Sueur reveals he has nothing incisive to say; such is the mediocrity of Jersey government. His highly paid civil servants surely could have supplied him with a more robust reply. The Finance community will not be reassured by his remarks. For a long time the Banking Class were indifferent to such ineptness from the gauche “locals” that ran government but now that their interests are in jeopardy, they will be looking for more reliable leadership. There will be tensions between those that want an aggressive defence of the tax haven and those that prefer concessions and a conciliatory approach with a view to at least short term survival and business as usual. The latter strategy currently prevails.
Frightened
The latter strategy is the only way forward. Even the most staunch defenders of “the good old days” must surely now be seeing that. If the supporters of the former strategy prevail then the islands would indeed be doomed. But the new confusion is not in relation to tax evasion but re. legitimate tax avoidance. That’s a very different ball game.