The Conservative and Unionist party manifesto for the coming 12 December election, Get Brexit Done Unleash Britain’s Potential, in one of its chapters includes a special mention to the democratic rights and the protection of the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and other Overseas Territories.
The author of the bestselling book Britain’s Treasure Islands is releasing a new work, with a section dedicated to the Falkland Islands. Britain’s Distant Lands by Stewart McPherson is a 208 page, landscape-format examination of the wildlife of all the UK Overseas Territories.
A ten week Call of Evidence was launched by the UK Government on Friday, to gather knowledge on safeguarding nature in the UK Overseas Territories. Many of the Overseas Territories are globally significant in their ecological richness, containing over 90% of UK’s marine and terrestrial nature. They are hotspots for biodiversity with an estimated 3,300 endemic species, but they are also highly vulnerable to environmental change.
EU finance ministers approved on Tuesday the addition of 10 more countries to the EU’s blacklist of tax havens, which currently includes only five jurisdictions and aims to help prevent tax fraud or evasion.
UK should end its control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean as rapidly as possible, the UN's highest court has said. Mauritius claims it was forced to give up the islands - now a British overseas territory - in 1965 in exchange for independence, which it gained in 1968.
The Falkland Islands' retail price index RPI increased by 2.9% in the 12-month period ending on December 2018, members of the Legislative Assembly were informed. The increase is broadly in line with previous quarters’ year-on-year increases.
After forty years in the service of the Falkland Islands, Sukey Cameron, the Falklands Representative in London is to retire in October. The Penguin News chatted with Ms Cameron about her long and distinguished career.
Seventeen innovative new projects will receive UK Government funding through the Darwin Plus initiative, to help protect and enhance the environment in the UK Overseas Territories. The seventh round of funding under the initiative, worth around £3.75m, will be shared amongst 17 projects around the globe. The funding will support international nature and help to achieve many of the commitments in the UK Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.
United Kingdom Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will, for the first time, be able to design and mint their own versions of the new 12-sided £1 coin. The iconic £1 coin has long been recognized around the world and Brits living in UK territories may soon be able to spend unique versions of the new pound, replacing the older coins currently in use, reports the UK Treasury in an official release.
For years there was consensus between the major UK political parties about the Overseas Territories, but that has now changed and the OTs now face a “more hostile and less supportive UK political class,” Dr Peter Clegg said, adding that perhaps a review of relations is appropriate, one which would “offer the Territories more autonomy, address the UN’s decolonization agenda, and give the Territories a stronger foreign policy voice.”