Lib Dems approve Jersey’s status as a finance centre

Saturday 24th September 2011, 2:56PM BST.

UK Business Secretary Vince Cable at the Liberal Democrat annual conference. Picture: David Jones/PA Wire

JERSEY’S status as an offshore finance centre was given another boost this week after leading Liberal Democrats in the UK described it as ‘acceptable’ and ‘well regulated’.

The comments were made to Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf during a three-day visit to the party’s conference in Birmingham aimed at strengthening the Island’s links with the UK.

It follows a positive week for the industry, which has just celebrated its 50th birthday, in which the EU gave Jersey’s controversial business tax system, zero-ten, the thumbs up and described it as ‘no longer harmful’.

Among the comments made to the Minister this week was one from Business Secretary Vince Cable, a long-term critic of Jersey’s offshore status, who said ‘there were no issues with Jersey he was aware of’.