THE ISLE OF MAN- NO EFFECT ON THE ELECTION YES OR NO?
As an ordinary member of the Manx public I would like to stop this idea that Isle of Man residents cannot affect the result of the up coming UK election, and why the Labour Government’s decision to cancel the Reciprocal Health Agreement between the Isle of Man and the UK should be a subject of concern.
Firstly can I explode the myth that all Manx residents are here avoiding UK tax rates, like any where in the UK the vast majority of people here are here because they were born here or came looking for work, we like everyone struggle to pay rents, mortgages, electricity and bring up a family.
On the point of effecting the election, I like many here have relatives in the UK effected by Labours decision, to give you my personal figures, I live here with my wife and young son, my parents live in Devon both are in their 80’s, I have married daughters living in Wiltshire, my sisters and brothers live in the South East and London, and numerous Aunts, Uncles and Cousins ranging from Cornwall to Scotland, all of whom are of a voting age and have been effected by this decision. My family is average for here, my neighbours although Manx born have sons and daughters living in England. So you can imagine how many UK voters are produced from a population here of 80,000+. That does not include friends living in the UK.
There are also the tens of thousands of people from the UK who come to the Isle of Man every year, to take part or watch our TT races, their concerns have been raised by many clubs and websites, not least the Auto Cycle Union and Riders are Voters.
On the decision to cancel its self, the Labour Government were accused by many members of the House of Lords of ‘bullying’ the Isle of Man, when the subject was raised at the Justice Committee on Crown Dependencies, the phrase ‘high handed’ was used by Northern Labour members when questioning Lord Bach. There is an Early Day Motion number 708 calling for the deferment of the decision until after the election so that proper discussions can take place between the UK, the devolved Governments and the Isle of Man, which has been blocked previously by the UK Health dept when ever a request was put forward, the EDM has to date 63 signatures from all sides of the House of which over half the signatories are Labour MPs.
When ever questions are asked in the House on why the decision was taken the mantra ‘not value for money for the UK tax payer’ is used, The figures state that this agreement costs the UK 0.028% of its health budget, £2.9 million, but this effects every member of the UK wishing to come to Isle of Man weither to visit family or as a tourist, you have the ludicrous situation that to visit an island slap bang in the middle of Great Britain, you have to treat it like a foreign country and get Travel Insurance with all its clauses etc regarding age and health. There is also the not so little matter of the £8 million paid into the UK health budget by the Isle of Man for elective surgery most of which goes to the North West, although so far the Isle of Man Government has declined the possibility of moving this to Scotland, Northern Ireland or even the Irish Republic, I can tell you it is something which if this cancellation continues we are prepared to put pressure on our Government to do and in 18 moths we have an election, and we shall make sure it is at the head of all debates.
This Island which took thousands of young men and women to fight in 2 world wars, and still draws upon its population for Her Majesties Forces to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, which as before they are proud to do, this Island which operated conscription in conjunction with the UK.
All we are asking for is a deferment of this decision which takes affect on the 1st April 2010, and an agreement that proper discussions will take place after the election, as many of MPs will know there has been much lobbying from here and in the UK, we had the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly unanimously voting for a deferment, there are questions being asked in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
To get back to the title of this piece, we will do all we can here and in the UK to bring this subject to the attention of voters in the UK, and also the fight will continue after the 1st April 2010 and after the election, you might of kept the Isle of Man Government quiet do not underestimate the people of the Isle of Man they are very very angry.