Despite his intemperate, hypocritical and ignorant remarks about the Channel Islands and their relationship with the wider world, it is, of course, to be fervently hoped that he does not meet the same grisly end.
In 1204, just over a century before Baron Wallace’s namesake was hanged, drawn and quartered for advocating independence in Scotland, King John laid the constitutional foundations on which Jersey has the right to make its own laws, levy its own taxes and spend its own money – effectively making it an independent jurisdiction under the protective umbrella of the Crown.
And since then, little has changed in respect of the relationship between Jersey and Westminster – despite the attentions of Baron Wallace and his ilk. For he is not the first to bang this broken drum.
Austin Mitchell MP, the pride of Grimsby, has been using it to drum up headlines for years and his many predecessors include the former Ayrshire MP George Foulkes, now Baron Foulkes of Cumnock, whose horror at the prospect of fiscally autonomous Channel Islands was presumably surpassed only by his horror when Scotland was granted a lesser degree of independence than Jersey in 1999 – just 795 years behind us.
But the modern objection to Jersey’s degree of independence is not about principle – it is about money.
If the UK government were to feel that Jersey’s finance industry costs them money – which would be odd in view of the activities of the City of London and the UK’s rules for non-domiciled individuals – then it is open to them to try to negotiate an arrangement between responsible jurisdictions that they prefer.
Baron Wallace’s comments about the ‘horrifying’ prospect of full independence in the islands and the dangers of corruption in small islands have no place in any such negotiation.
The reality is that Jersey’s independence is becoming more, not less, established. Beyond the obvious points that Jersey has its own laws, parliament, courts, flag, currency and language, it now signs international agreements in its own name, hosts international sporting events and in mid-November will host the leaders of the other British governments and assemblies at the next British-Irish Council summit.
It is a shame that Baron Wallace does not like those things. But fortunately for us and him, it is absolutely none of his business.
