UK Reviewing Overseas Territories Support
Monday, September 26, 2011

The UK government has announced that a White Paper is to be drafted and published in 2012 as part of a review into the way that the United Kingdom interacts with and supports its many overseas territories.

In a September 14 Ministerial Statement, the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague explained that it is the UK government's fundamental responsibility and objective to ensure the security and good governance of the UK's overseas territories and their peoples.

The government has proposed that, following a decade of constitutional revision, the time is not right to embark on further constitutional change, although existing revisions remain ongoing in an attempt to modernize territories' constitutions. Instead, the White Paper will outline government strategy on ensuring that these constitutional arrangements work effectively to promote the best interests of the territories and the UK, Hague explained. The White Paper will focus on measures:

• To strengthen the engagement and interaction between the UK and the territories;
• To work with territories to strengthen good governance arrangements, public financial management and economic planning where this is necessary; and
• To improve the quality and range of support available to the territories.

The implementation of these policies will take different forms in each territory, Hague said. "We are now engaging in discussion with the territories and our many stakeholders to identify the priorities for action in each relationship. Government departments will set out in papers by the end of January 2012 how they can support the territories."

The document is expected to be the focus of discussion at the Overseas Territories Consultative Council, set to convene for its two-day annual meeting which starts on November 23, 2011.