COMMUNICATION between the Isle of Man Government and the people of the Isle of Man must be improved.
That's according to the new Chief Minister Allan Bell MHK who has said government's efforts so far have been "very patchy".
Mr Bell, who was elected as Chief Minister on Tuesday, said a full communications review is needed to ensure that government departments pass on information in an effective way to the public.
In his experience, while campaigning for the General Election, Mr Bell said he found that many people had "a belief that the Isle of Man had been failing in some respects" and that it had underperformed.
He explained: "In fact the reality is the Isle of Man has done incredibly well over the last five years. We've ridden the credit crunch, the banking crisis, the world recession, the collapse of Kaupthing and all the problems which have flowed from that.
"We are one of the few countries in Europe that hasn't faced recession, we haven't got external borrowing and unemployment has stayed very low all the way through this.
"These are extremely good news stories which most other jurisdictions frankly would give their right arm for.
"On the doorstep that message hasn't got through as clearly as it might have. I'm not saying I have the magic pill for this but I think there needs to be a collective reappraisal of how we communicate with the public to make sure they are fully informed."
Mr Bell said it is important to ensure the public know why decisions are being made, in detail, and what the implications of these decisions may be.
He continued: "This is going to be more important than ever in the time ahead because if we do have to make difficult decisions, hard decisions, possibly painful decisions, they will be far better received by the public if we can keep the public informed. I think they may well be more willing to understand where we are coming from."
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