THE Isle of Man’s Customs & Excise agreement with the UK will not be renegotiated before the House of Keys General Election in September, Tynwald was told yesterday.

Treasury Minister Anne Craine, answering questions on the matter, said that discussions between senior officials of the Manx parliament and the UK government were “ongoing” and would not be resolved quickly.

“Life goes on both before and after a General Election . . . I have to remind everyone that there is now a new coalition government in the UK and the world has changed,” she said.

Onchan MHK Peter Karran posed a question, asking Mrs Craine to estimate how the Isle of Man stood regarding its proportion of sharing revenues, particularly VAT.

He also felt that it was time an agreement had been reached, particularly in light of a statement made in the House of Commons by David Gauke MP, Exchequer Secretary HM Treasury, who said that UK government policy was that the Isle of Man should receive the same amount of VAT revenue as if it were an independent state.

But the Treasury Minister would not be drawn on guessing about such matters. “There are conditions which we have had to fight against which were not there previously,” she added. 

“It is imperative that we reach a conclusion which favours our Island . .  clearly it is inappropriate to make a comment at the moment on the details. Matters are ongoing.”