Governing the UK Caribbean Overseas Territories: A Two-Way Perspective

• Author: Peter Clegg
• Pages: 3-23

3

- GOVERNING THE UK CARIBBEAN OVERSEAS TERRITORIES -

GOVERNING THE UK CARIBBEAN

OVERSEAS TERRITORIES:

A Two-Way Perspective

PETER CLEGG

INTRODUCTION

This chapter analyses the complex and ever-evolving relationship

between the United Kingdom (UK) and its Caribbean Overseas

Territories (COTs), formerly known as Dependent Territories. They

consist of Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands,

Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands. Links between the UK and

its COTs have been shaped and determined by particular historical,

constitutional, political and economic trends. For many years the

relationship between the COTs and the UK was rather ad hoc – a

situation that can be traced back to the compromises, fudges and deals

characteristic of 'pragmatic' British colonial administration. This

chapter traces the relationship between the UK and its COTs, and the

efforts on the part of the current British government to overcome the

legacy of only sporadic interest, through the imposition of greater

coherence across the five territories via a new partnership based on

mutual obligations and responsibilities. It can be argued that the recent

reforms have led to a greater convergence of policy across the COTs

and some strengthening of Britain's role in overseeing their activities.

However, it is also apparent that problems of governance remain. In

order to understand the contemporary situation it is first necessary to

consider the constitutional provisions that underpin the relationship

between the UK and its territories in the Caribbean.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS OF THE UK-CARIBBEAN

OVERSEAS TERRITORY RELATIONSHIP

The collapse of the Federation of the West Indies precipitated a

period of decolonisation in the English-speaking Caribbean, which

1.

4

- GOVERNANCE IN THE NON-INDEPENDENT CARIBBEAN -

began with Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago gaining their

independence in 1962. Despite the trend towards self-rule across the

region, a number of smaller British territories, lacking the natural

resources of their larger neighbours, were reluctant to follow suit. As a

consequence the UK authorities had to establish a new governing

framework for them. This was required as the West Indies Federation

had been the UK's preferred method of supervising its Dependent

Territories in the region. In its place the UK established constitutions

for each of those territories that retained formal ties with London. The

West Indies Act of 1962 (WIA 1962) was approved for this purpose.

The WIA 1962 remains today the foremost provision for four of the

five COTs. The fifth, Anguilla, was dealt with separately owing to its

long-standing association with St Kitts and Nevis. When Anguilla came

under direct British rule in the 1970s and eventually became a separate

British Dependent Territory in 1980, the Anguilla Act 1980 (AA 1980)

became the principal source of authority.

The constitutions of the territories framed by WIA 1962 and AA

1980 detail the complex set of arrangements that exist between the

UK and its COTs. Because, with the exception of Anguilla, the

relationship between the Caribbean territories and the UK is framed

by the same piece of legislation, there are many organisational and

administrative similarities. Each constitution allocates government

responsibilities to the Crown, the Governor and the Overseas Territory,

according to the nature of the responsibility. In terms of executive

power, authority is vested in Her Majesty the Queen. In reality, however,

the office of Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

and the Territory Governors undertake decisions in the Monarch's

name, with the Governors having a large measure of autonomy of action.

Those powers generally reserved for the Crown include defence and

external affairs, as well as responsibility for internal security and the

police, international and offshore financial relations, and the public

service. With such a balance of authority it has been argued 'the Governor

is halfway to being a constitutional monarch … taking his own decisions

in those areas reserved for him' (Taylor, 2000, 339).

While the British Monarch retains a number of important reserved

powers, there is significant autonomy for individual COTs. In theory

individual territory governments have control over all aspects of policy

that are not overseen by the Crown, including the economy, education,