THE Isle of Man's new Chief Minister has said the Isle of Man must "take control of its own destiny".

Ramsey MHK Allan Bell has said the Isle of Man needs to become less dependent on the UK moving forwards.

However despite calls from some for the Isle of Man to become totally independent of the United Kingdom Mr Bell believes that realistically this is not a possibility.

He said: "I still passionately believe in the independence of the Isle of Man but there are degrees of independence in the modern world.

"I think the world has changed and even if the Isle of Man was to be fully independent at the moment, given the inter-relation of world economies and other activities, the Isle of Man would not be its own master.

"We would still be very much controlled by world economic conditions about trading relationships with neighbours and the various international agreements that we have signed up to – so total independence is a different concept than what it was 30 or 40 years ago.

"No country is truly independent these days no matter how large they might be and we need to recognise that."

Mr Bell said it may be necessary for the government to review the relationship it has with the UK Government and some of the reciprocal agreements that the Island shares with it including agreements on benefits and pensions.

He explained: "It might be appropriate, and I have a totally open mind on these matters at the moment - especially bearing in mind that the UK themselves are reviewing these areas, for us to assess whether in fact it might be wiser in future for us to have direct control over these areas rather than rely on the United Kingdom.

"I would though like to think that the Isle of Man will learn from the experiences we've had over the last few years and, whilst not becoming independent, will in the process become less dependent on that relationship.

"We need to be very clear this time that the Isle of Man needs to take control of its own destiny in some of these areas and be less dependent on the UK – a move which I have to say I think the United Kingdom would probably welcome itself. It's changing times."

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