Geoffrey Boot

I've been active in politics since my early 20s, elected to a number of UK local authorities, holding various posts - planning committee, scrutiny committee, finance committee, environment committee, boundary review board chairman, licensing committee vice-chairman and four years as council leader/chairman.

I've worked with the UK Conservative Party, including involvement in political forums as chairman. I have as a matter of course attended the main party political conferences and through involvement in aviation worked on regulation and legislation at UK, European and International level. I have contact with numerous political figures in the UK and with MEPs.

What is your view on health care provision on the Island?

General health care provision on the island is good, although there have been some recent mistakes, dentistry comes to mind and locally the arbitrary cancellation of the podiatry clinic in Peel which has resulted in about 370 people, mainly elderly and vulnerable, now having to go to Douglas. The ongoing debate/debacle over the breast cancer specialist has not been edifying. A number of people have commented that we spend an awful lot of money sending people for treatment in the UK which, while necessary where we don't have the clinical expertise on island, for follow ups with no clinic intervention it would be more economical, and certainly better for the patients, for the specialist to come to the Isle of Man rather than the other way round.

The feeling is that there's often a lack of transparency when changes are proposed and a lack of consultation.

Does the Island provide a good education?

I have visited all three schools in Glenfaba and talked to their heads and it is my belief that they are performing outstandingly well. The Bunscoill School is unique and the enthusiastic team there are ensuring the future of our Manx language. We must resist attempts to follow anything associated with the disastrous UK model. As far as I can determine our education system is far superior to that in the UK.

Should the Island be independent?

The Isle of Man already has more independence than it exercises. It took a UK government's enquiry to point out to our politicians that the UK is influencing Isle of Man policy far too much. Why didn't our politicians notice this? One of our big problems is that over the last 10 years our politicians have not built bridges or had the necessary contacts with UK politicians and those in Europe. Civil servants dealing with civil servants, and by all accounts ours are seasoned negotiators, sometimes require political direction and we are missing out as a result. I know this because I do political business in the UK and Europe and it is evident that we no longer have these contacts. It is important to rebuild them for the future.

What are your views on the islands taxation regime and VAT?

he VAT debacle is going to cost us dear. What annoys me is that we don't have any firm figures on what it would cost us if we abrogated. Much of the negotiation has been carried out under a cloak of secrecy and I believe that the present administration have no mandate to commit to the further £75 million reduction. It should be suspended until after the election when a new administration can establish contact at political level and make representations prior to negotiations commencing.

In the long run, if the £189 million sticks we face difficult times: that's nearly 40% of our total budget. Unprecedented in any country! The trouble is the UK media, and politicians who will believe the media, think that they are providing a subsidy to us, whereas our perception is that we are getting our VAT back. Without firm figures it's difficult to make a cogent argument one way or the other.

Is inflation hurting the Isle of Man?

Inflation is currently running at over 6% whereas in the UK it's 4%+. With low interest rates this is having a profound effect on people with fixed incomes, particularly the elderly. On the plus side, inflation does reduce in real terms the impact of the loss of the VAT rebate. Unfortunately inflation in a small island economy is dependent on external factors. However the government could look at disparity between our fuel costs and transport to the island and could make adjustments to duty. However, whilst inflation is running at over 4% in the UK it will not go away in the Isle of Man.

Should there be state owned monopolies or free market competition (i.e. Water, Post, Gas, Electricity, Telecom's, Ferry Travel etc..)?

There are several options in utilities. You can commercialise them, incorporate them or privatise them, or indeed leave them as they are. I don't favour mass privatisation as all that will do is transfer capital assets for a one off payment I suspect to off Isle of Man owners who will then repatriate their profit from the operations and leave us poorer for it. However the state does control and own a number of assets that could be commercialised whilst retaining ownership and this I believe is the way forward, but not for everything.

Should we have an open seas policy like the open sky's policy?

The open sky's policy seems to be working reasonably well but then the airport services multiple destinations, whereas the principal sea route to either Heysham or Liverpool doesn't. There is a degree of competition with freight already but I believe, bearing in mind the limited passenger numbers particularly during the winter months, that there would be insufficient custom to maintain services in competition that may result in no services at times if we pursue a total open seas policy as some suggest.

Does the Island do enough to protect its environment?

I think we have a good environmental record in the Isle of Man, apart from stupid proposals like the Archallagan's dump, fortunately itself now history.

Where do you see the future of the Islands economy (i.e. Finance, Manufacturing, Service, Tourism, Film, Space etc)?

The financial sector will continue to be one of our major economic drivers and we need to support and encourage that. Diversification comes in many guises and there are opportunities out there that I am sure some entrepreneur will bring to the island in due course, providing we don't discourage inflow of capital by making poor taxation decisions. The fact that we sit within Europe but outside of the European Union does offer some opportunities: you only have to look at the success of our small ship and new aircraft registry to see potential.

Where do you think new jobs can be generated?

Manufacturing on any scale because of the transport costs is unlikely to be viable unless very high value items, whereas E trade and commerce only requires favourable regulation and fast broadband connection, which we have. The government doesn't produce new jobs, companies and entrepreneurs do. Bearing in mind we are going to have to shrink the public sector, which at the moment employs nearly 50% of the workforce (typically reminiscent of deprived areas in the UK). We need to retain a favourable company and individual tax regime to ensure people relocate to the island and continue to do business here.

Commercialisation of some of the government functions and contracting them out will provide more employment in the private sector, as has been seen in the UK. We must be careful about the knee jerk reactions in the public sector as simply cutting jobs and putting people on the unemployment register will turn productive subsidy into non productive.

Should the Chief Minister and MLC's be publicly elected?

I started my election campaign with a full elector's survey. Results reveal that 75% of people believe that the Chief Minister should be elected and I suspect more would like to see MLCs elected, particularly after the lengthy and farcical election of MLCs over the last five years. I would therefore favour MLCs being elected by common suffrage. When it comes to the Chief Minister it's slightly more difficult as we need a methodology and I think in both cases constitutional change of this sort should be put to referendum.

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