Under pressure from the OECD, USA, the UN and other regulators, in January 1998, the UK’s Home Secretary asked Andrew Edwards (a former Treasury civil servant) to investigate the state of financial regulation in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. There is no commitment to publish any resulting report though the Minister indicated that a summary might be published. Meanwhile, a fuller version (or as full as we have been led to believe) of the Edwards report has been passed to Jersey’s ruling elite. The ruling elite has failed to show it to all members of the Jersey States. Thus the potentialities for debate are being stifled. The ruling elite has mobilising lobbyists and friendly members of the UK Parliament to exert pressure on the Home Secretary and Andrew Edwards to persuade them to dilute the report and with it the proposed programme of reform.

We believe that the full report should be published especially as the hitherto ‘secret’ report has already received extensive press coverage in The Guardian (26 September 1998) and the Sunday Business (27 September 1998). There is no moral defence for showing this unpublished report to an elite and denying it to others.

In the interests of wider public debate and freedom of information, this Website will display the full Edwards Report and commentary thereupon. Please feel free to print it and pass it on.