Economic Affairs Scrutiny Panel chairman Deputy Geoff Southern says the minister ‘buckled under pressure’ from the UK because he was more worried about Jersey’s reputation than about the massive benefits that expanding the industry could have for the Island.
‘They have taken a step too far.
They have put the brakes on a lucrative industry just when it is getting off the ground.
There are certainly going to be job losses because of their policy,’ said Deputy Southern.
The panel took on the review following Economic Development’s decision to limit the number of UK companies that ship their products from Jersey back to the UK to bypass VAT.
By February 2007, 13 out of 70 fulfilment companies that pack and ship their goods from the Island will have to cease trading after being warned by the department to ‘wind down their company operations or discontinue them altogether’.
