In a speech to the Guernsey Bar last week, Sir Philip Bailhache said that if the EU position over Jersey’s tax status turned sour to the point at which our position as Crown Dependencies was hurting rather than helping, the islands should consider a joint future.
‘Faced with nuclear options of that kind, should we not consider a Federation of the Channel Islands of some kind rather than each Bailiwick ploughing its own lonely furrow?’ asked Sir Philip.
‘This may sound a little alarmist to some; I am certainly not advocating a unilateral declaration of independence by the Channel Islands.
‘What I do advocate, however, is that responsible people should be giving quiet but serious thought to ways in which the Channel Islands might link their destinies as a single sovereign federated state if it were necessary to do so at any stage in the future.
We are already for all practical purposes virtually independent states.
If a situation arose where the Islands felt compelled to take the final step, should we not take it together?’
