Jersey could break with the UK after attacks on the island's financial services industry, a senior Jersey politician said in an interview with UK national newspaper.

Speaking to the Guardian, Jersey's assistant chief minister, Sir Philip Bailhache, said that the island is being treated unfairly and has to be prepared to become independent. The island is a UK crown dependency like Guernsey, the other half of the Channel Islands in the English Channel.

According to Sir Philip, relations between Jersey and the UK have become strained in the past five years. The Channel Islands are heavily dependent on financial services and took big hits in the crash of 2008.

"I hope that the constitutional relationship with the UK will continue," Sir Philip was quoted as having said. "But if it becomes plain that our interests in fact lie in being independent it doesn't seem to be that we should bury our head in the sand and say we're not going to do that."

As offshore financial centres, the Channel Islands have been targeted by the UK government's mission to clamp down on tax evasion. The country is committed to impose a general anti-abuse rule aimed at aggressive tax planning next year.

What is more, the European Commission published a set of proposals of "common measures against tax havens" this week. The proposals included minimum sanction for tax crimes, a cross-border tax identification number and an EU tax payers' charter, and the Commission is looking to come out with an action plan by the end of the year.