At the start of what could be a momentous week for American politics, the potential impact on the Isle of Man of a Democratic victory is being considered.

With Barack Obama (pictured) the clear favourite in the race for the White House, Treasury Minister Allan Bell says there are reasons to be alert:

He told Manx Radio:

"First of all, bringing more certainty to the future of the new United States administration will help international markets and economic development to a certain extent.

"At a lower level, we need to be very wary of the new administration, especially in the first year or two, because Obama has made a number of very strident comments against small financial jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man.

"He classes them all as tax-havens (and) doesn't seem to be able to differentiate between well run, well regulated cooperative states, and those rogue states he sees are draining tax dollars out of the United States.

"He has called for action and may well, especially if he has a full Democratically controlled Congress, try to drive through legislation against us at an early stage, so we need to be very conscious of that."