Govt House Comment On UK Committee Report

March 7, 2019

“The Governor is of course aware of views expressed in Bermuda on the subject,” Government House said, adding that the “UK Government is carefully considering the report from the Foreign Affairs Committee and will respond fully in due course.”

The report in question was released by the British Parliament Committee, and it suggested that all UK citizens who reside in Overseas Territories [OTs] should be allowed to vote and hold elected office, Britain should order all OTs to legalise same-sex marriage, and the report also urged the UK Government to lay out a timetable as it pertains to the plan for the UK to order all OTs to make their beneficial ownership registers public.

The Premier’s press conference on the matter held on March 4th

Premier David Burt has raised concerns about the suggestions, and gave notice of a Motion in the House of Assembly which calls for the House to reject the “unwarranted and unjustified attempt at intervention into Bermuda’s domestic affairs and calls on the UK Government to reject the Report and its retrograde recommendations.”

The Motion appears likely to receive bipartisan support, as Opposition Leader Craig Cannonier previously said the “OBA will support efforts to resist this imposition” as “Bermuda’s future should be dictated by Bermudians.”

Bernews asked Government House for comment, and a spokesperson said, “The Governor is of course aware of views expressed in Bermuda on the subject. The UK Government is carefully considering the report from the Foreign Affairs Committee and will respond fully in due course.”

“The UK Government takes its responsibilities to the Overseas Territories extremely seriously and is committed to assisting them in a range of areas – including building strong economies and protecting vulnerable groups.”

Yesterday’s News & Views show with Peter Sanderson, Craig Cannonier & Cordell Riley on the topic

The UK Government has two months to determine how or it if it will proceed with the Foreign Affairs Committee’s recommendations, however one aspect they mention, ordering the OTs to make their beneficial ownership registers public, is already underway.

The Premier previously said that he tabled the Motion “to signal the political unanimity of Bermuda on the issues. It has often been said that while we may disagree internally, to the world we must present a united front.

“The Motion tabled today provides an opportunity for all elected Members of the House to speak with one voice in the debate and with their vote. This united front will convey to the UK Government that on these issues, Bermuda is of one accord.”

This report comes as Britain is embroiled in making their final preparations to exit the European Union, which is scheduled to occur at the end of this month, and is seeking to incorporate the Overseas Territories as they build what they term a “Global Britain,” with their report stating that “the people of the Overseas Territories are deeply proud of their British heritage and continue to feel a strong sense of loyalty to the Crown.”

The 48 page report from the Committee on OTs and a Global Britain follows below [PDF here]:

click here banner British Overseas Territories

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Comments (8)

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  1. Real Deal says:

    its Simple to see what UK end game is.
    This is what I am seeing between the lines

    They want back full control of all Overseas Territories so that they can implement their own version of European Union that they just left. the way they choose to do this is to absorb control of each territory into the UK GOV.

    But they need to make it look like it was the Territories made the call through voting process. Its like the opposite of Territories going independent.

    This allows for UK to gain more control over the areas where the Territories and late expand to take on other territory that are not UK territory.

    this will give them a lot of power in the global economy to control trade and mandate sanctions where they see fit. this way they will “Aid(slowly take over)”other territory that are not UK territory. it would be a powerful network.
    I personally don’t want this because it come at a heavy price freedom of those Territories.

    • PBanks says:

      So a situation where the UK, after ‘taking over’ Bermuda, Cayman, BVI, etc as well as the Crown Dependencies, would have extra leverage as far as setting policies is concerned when dealing with other jurisdictions? Interesting take.

  2. Real Deal says:

    see I was spot on this post is saying the same thing i just posted

  3. Real Deal says:

    even if Bermuda goes independent it will be force to revert if other Territories go with this. only way around this is if no or a large percent or key Territories do not go for it. if they get the right Territories under their fingers they can just stifle the others into submission. they will mostly likely make the first Territories they get on board look like the best thing since slice cheese as positive incentive (lookkey here.. look what we did for this territory that joined willingly) at the same time in the shadows they will apply pursue (suffocation) to the other Territories that are opposed or have not made up their minds.

    going to be interesting to watch this play out. sad but interesting like the mark of the beast

  4. Joe Bloggs says:

    Much ado about nothing.

  5. St.George's Passport and Immigration Control says:

    in other words,plp will do as they are told by the UK.

  6. rodney smith says:

    What London wants, London gets. There is no way around this . Here comes the British with the vote ,status , and telling us what to do .

    • newperspective says:

      Rodney, do you have a problem with that?