UK Still To Clarify Plans On Brits Becoming Belongers, Voters In OTs

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(PLTM) - Leaders of the Overseas Territories (OTs) are extremely concerned about plans by the United Kingdom to have their citizens become belongers in the territories with voting rights and the ability to hold office.

The UK plans are said to be part of the 'Global Britain' agenda. However, Premier and Minister for Finance Hon. Andrew Fahie said several regional leaders are still awaiting clarification on the UK's position on the issue which was raised during the Overseas Territories (OT) Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in the United Kingdom (UK) earlier this month.

“One of the questions that the OTs Ministers had across the board that was ventilated in the UK was the concern of belongers status and it was hinged from concerns from a Foreign Affairs Committee Report which stated a few years ago that one of the recommendations is for British citizens to be able to have status in all OT’s and be able to become belongers of that OT because they are British and to be able to vote and even to hold office,” he said while addressing the issue during a press conference on Friday, November 26.

He explained that one of the areas of contention is the population size of the UK when compared with the OTs.

“You have the UK with 66+ million people. If this is something that is allowed based on what was recommended in the report and it is something that is implemented, not saying that they have said it would be or not, but everything starts with a report. Leaders have been expressing concern about this. You don’t even need the 66 million you just need one million to come and be absorbed in all the OTs and then if that happens, I am not saying that it would be, but it is in the report.”

He added, “Then you would not have any more Anguillans as you would know them. You would not have Bermudians as you know them. You would not have any more Montserratians, Virgin Islanders, anywhere there is an OT. That ethnic background that made up the indigenous people wouldn’t be there anymore.”

Premier Fahie said as a result, the OT leaders questioned their UK counterparts on the meaning of belongership in terms of global Britain and, they “wanted to know if the belongership was part of this new global Britain strategy.”

He informed that the OT leaders have been told that they would receive correspondence to clarify their concerns and it will be sent via the Governor.

“They didn’t seem to have stated what was mentioned just now by me and the concerns raised by the other OT ministers that, that is going to be the case. So we just let them to know that that is a concern we are having and the people of the Virgin Islands are concerned about that, people in Anguilla, Montserrat are concerned about that, people in Bermuda are concerned about that…so it was not a BVI concern solely. This was a holistic concern of the OTs. How do we continue to make sure that we keep our ethnicity as a people of those territories while still making sure that we adhere to the UK being that we are still an OT for now.”

The Finance Minister said this is what prompted talks in that regard and the topic of the future relationship with the UK was explored.

“So we had fruitful and positive discussions about that so I am going to wait on the information that will be provided to the Governor which they promised to get to me as Premier and then we are going to be able to come to the people and say this is something that is definitely on the table and what direction they are going to go with that because that is a concern,” Premier added.

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