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Isle of Man won't look for defence bill cut

Tue, 14 Feb 2012

The Chief Minister says it's not in the Isle of Man's interest to seek changes to the way it pays to UK for defence.

Allan Bell says the Isle of Man currently pays a fixed rate for a number of services provided by the Crown, including defence and embassy services.

When the agreement was made in 1992, the Manx Government paid Britain £1.75m. With inflation this has now risen to over £2.8m for this year.

Douglas South MHK Kate Beecroft wanted the Chief Minister to ask the UK for a reduction to this bill, following cuts to its armed forces budget of around 8%.

But Mr Bell says this figure isn't just linked to defence [play clip]

 

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• Allan Bell MHK