Cronky Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 BBC Today Programme 28/3/2012 The tiny Channel Island of Sark has a unique constitutional position: part of Britain, but not the UK, it is still held as a fief on behalf of the Queen. It only became a democracy in 2008 but islanders have told us that that democracy is now under threat. They say they are being bullied and intimidated by representatives of Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, the owners of the Telegraph, in the local newsletter. The two brothers now own a third of the island and local people told us they think they're trying to take control of it. Sark decides its own laws, sets its own taxes and with only 600 inhabitants is small enough to be taken over. The Today programme's Sarah Montague went to the island to find out what they were complaining about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I would imagine wealthy, well connected people like them with knighthoods n all won't mind doing her majesty's government a favour if they got the nudge at a dinner party in London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 This is what HM Government says: The Ministry of Justice also declined to be interviewed and gave us a statement saying: "Sark has its own elected democracy; is not part of the UK and is not represented in the UK Parliament, although the Crown has ultimate responsibility to ensure good governance Interesting that when the Island residents themselves flag up an issue of poor governance the UK seems reluctant to get involved. Cue Barrie Stevens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Stevens Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 The concept of ultimate UK responsibility is of "good governance" and not "good government"...It is possible to have the former available in principle to the locals in the absence of the latter..."good governance" is a principle..."good government" is the ideal fruit but raised and harvested as the natives wish it to be...ie it is their problem but the ways and means are in place. The UK did nothing stop the old rogue Sir Charlie K because the ways and means were available to the locals if they wanted to make change... The Isle of Man has "good governance" but as to whether or not it has "good government" is a matter for the residents and unless there is a total collapse or UK/Crown interests are affected then the UK will not necessarily interfere (At least openly!) ...same goes for Sark... In principle the people of Sark have all their beans in a row and everything ready in place for good government if they apply the tools of good governance .... But the UK's position is not to interfere if the matter can be settled locally by the locals... The Barclay Brothers (who own Brecqhou nearby) have tried this before...It has been rumbling on a few years now since 1996 and covered by "Private Eye"...The Barclays think that their Island is not a feudal subordinate of Sark...They think they own it outright. When Sark was obliged by the UK to adopt the European Convention on Human Rights domestically and institute free and fair elections ...(After the Barclays had energetically petitioned on the matter) ...the Barclays tried to install their Placemen for election and which met with opposition...(They are not so good as Sir Charlie K at these things!) Since then "the Brothers" have taken back their bat and ball...ie reduced or cut investment. Sark is a bit odd being a Fiefdom in the hands of the Beaumont family since the days of Elizabeth 1...The Barclays would - it is alleged - like to call the shots over that Fiefdom and thus allegedly gain control over a jurisdiction able to raise and set its own taxes....(Sounds familiar eh? Cue Sir Charlie K) So, the UK will only interfere if "good governance" fails as has been done over the past three or four years in the Turks and Caicos Islands where Britain suspended the constitution and took over. ....“Good governance” had failed to produce “Good government” Both Sark and the Isle of Man are long way from such a manifest state of failure! Personally, I feel that if the Barclays get too big for their boots then the Queen will be advised by her Ministers to invoke some long dormant feudal powers so as to prevent the Brothers from undermining the effectiveness of “good governance”.... Hope this helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 If you listen to the broadcast it is apparent that, very much behind the scenes, the Queen is taking a close interest. But how She may act is not clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Stevens Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 If you listen to the broadcast it is apparent that, very much behind the scenes, the Queen is taking a close interest. But how She may act is not clear. The Queen can only act on the advice of her Ministers...and not what she wants to do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 If you listen to the broadcast it is apparent that, very much behind the scenes, the Queen is taking a close interest. But how She may act is not clear. The Queen can only act on the advice of her Ministers...and not what she wants to do! I was thinking more in terms of behind the scenes influence. They said in the broadcast that the Queen knows exactly what is going on and that her private secretary has visited Island. That surely suggests there is some high level interest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 If you listen to the broadcast it is apparent that, very much behind the scenes, the Queen is taking a close interest. But how She may act is not clear. The Queen can only act on the advice of her Ministers...and not what she wants to do! Well as Whitehall looks as if it is taking a lot more of an interest in its territories than before (as evidenced in the Isle of Man, Turks and Caicos) then it stands to reason that there is a possibility that this may also be the case in places like Sark too, in which case you would imagine the Queen would be aware of it at the very least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Stevens Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 If you listen to the broadcast it is apparent that, very much behind the scenes, the Queen is taking a close interest. But how She may act is not clear. The Queen can only act on the advice of her Ministers...and not what she wants to do! I was thinking more in terms of behind the scenes influence. They said in the broadcast that the Queen knows exactly what is going on and that her private secretary has visited Island. That surely suggests there is some high level interest? Of course! But Sark is a (sort of) dependency of Guernsey and Guernsey has a Lt Governor..(Who sends reports to London) It is all much the same as the Isle of Man and the Queen being Lord of Mann but also Head of State in Privy Council...(The Lt Governor tells London what the Manx are thinking) The Queen's most direct "power" is over the Prime Minister (Cameron) but at the end of the day whatever personal views are presented and however close the feudal relationship the Queen has to act on the advice of her Ministers...The Private Secretary's visit is rather more connected to advising the Prime Minister as much as the Queen....It is a sort of balancing act... One of the few "weapons" at the Queen's disposal is to caution or encourage if she thinks that the steam roller of "big constitution" threatens the position of smaller entities such as the people of Sark... And that the people of Sark see the Queen as the backstop of last resort....But in all of these matters if David Cameron puts his foot down then there is not much the Queen can do save cause a crisis... And that is not going to happen....But the threat tends to bang heads together to get a settlement (I mean we can get the HMRC to give the Barclay Bros tax situation a "good old tug!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbon selector Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Sark has been very useful to some on the the Isle of Man for an extra layer of tax dodging, secrecy etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurricanII Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 If Sark can set their own tax then maybe they can do a bit of bullying back - work out a tax to make Sir Dave and Freddie liable to pay them several millions. Then wave bye bye to them or open a dialogue to discuss what is required to remove the tax liability.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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