MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Hague announces review of policy towards Overseas Territories

Foreign Secretary William Hague said France and UK regard their OT differently

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague announced a review of the overall approach of the coalition government towards the Overseas Territories and stated that contrary to France the UK does not regard OT as part of the home state nor has plans for such a move, reports Panorama.

“I have commissioned a review of our overall approach to the overseas territories. That review is not yet complete, but we look forward to discussing it with the Committee in future months. I’ve put in charge of that policy Minister Henry Bellingham”, said Hague during questions in the House of Commons Foreign Affairs committee.

“We are not the same as France; we don’t regard our overseas territories as parts of the home state. They do not have representatives in our national legislature, so they are in a different position. I think that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is the appropriate home, but we’ll try to show over the coming years that we deserve that role”, said Hague is reply to three basic questions from Conservative MP Andres Rosindell.

The Romford MP asked first, if there will be a new, more positive approach to bring the OT closer to Britain and make them feel British since at the moment, “many of them wonder why they remain under Britain”. Secondly, if they are British OT, why are they under the Foreign Office? Finally Rosindell asked for reassurances that under the coalition Government, there will never again be a return to the ‘colonial attitude’ of the Government of Mr Blair in 2002, when they sought to impose a joint sovereignty deal on the people of Gibraltar, even though the people there had previously voted 99% against being annexed by Spain.

Hague mentioned as a clear strategy of the new UK coalition government towards the OT to assist them in their economic development and mentioned the recent decision to build an airport in the island of St Helena as well as support for some of the Caribbean territories to face fiscal crises.

“I think we have a responsibility to ensure the security and good governance of the overseas territories, as well as to support their economic well-being. They can create substantial challenges for the UK in many different ways, and we must recognise that. We need to manage those risks quite carefully, but I think we’ve moved quickly in the past few months to tackle certain problems. I have mentioned St Helena. There have been fiscal crises in some of the Caribbean territories, and a very severe problem in the Turks and Caicos Islands”, pointed out Hague.

Finally, according to the Panorama report the Foreign Secretary regarding Gibraltar said that “as I’m sure you will have heard me say in the past, there will be no change in the position of Gibraltar and the people of Gibraltar without the consent of the people of Gibraltar”.