WREATH-LAYING AT THE CENOTAPH
137. Currently the Foreign Secretary lays a wreath
at the Cenotaph on behalf of all the Overseas Territories at the
Remembrance Sunday service. In a personal submission to our inquiry,
Albert Poggio, the government of Gibraltar's representative in
the UK, argued that Gibraltar should be able to lay a wreath on
its own behalf:
The people of Gibraltar made many sacrifices during
the war and they believe strongly that there should be the opportunity
for Gibraltar to place a wreath at the Cenotaph in the same way
that many organisations in the UK do. We appreciate that the Foreign
Secretary has undertaken this task on our behalf since the war,
but believe that the powers in our new Constitution, which gives
almost full autonomy to the Government of Gibraltar in the area
of external affairs, should be reflected in our undertaking this
important and symbolic task on our own behalf. [264]
138. We asked the Chief Minister of Gibraltar
for his view. He told us that the government of Gibraltar was
"very proud" of its contribution in the second world
war in particular and that it would be "honoured and privileged"
to lay its own wreath.[265]
139. UKOTA argued that it seemed "strange
and anachronistic" for Overseas Territory representatives
to be excluded from laying a wreath. It argued that many Overseas
Territories citizens had "fallen in defence of Britain"
and all now had democratically elected governments which sent
representatives to many international events.[266]
We note that in the past the High Commissioner for the Federation
of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and, later, Southern Rhodesia, laid
a wreath at the Cenotaph and that those Federations had a similar
level of self-government to Gibraltar.
140. However, in an oral answer on 20 November
2007, the Minister for Europe said the Government had no plans
to change the current arrangements for Remembrance Sunday.[267]
The Chief Minister of Gibraltar suggested to us that this reluctance
to change practice was because the Foreign Secretary's exclusive
function in the ceremony is to represent the Overseas Territories.[268]
141. We recommend that Overseas
Territory government representatives from Bermuda, Gibraltar,
the Falkland Islands and any other Territory wishing to do so
should be permitted to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph on Remembrance
Sunday. The Foreign Secretary should continue to lay a wreath
on behalf of other Territories.
COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT
MEETING
142. The government of Gibraltar's representative
in the UK also argued that the UK should support the attendance
of Overseas Territories' political leaders at CHOGM:
The Overseas Territories play an active role in the
Commonwealth and attend many international and regional meetings.
It therefore seems a strange anachronism that they are represented
at CHOGM by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. We recognise
that it is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Heads of Government
to issue such invitations. However, we believe that support from
the UK would lend us great weight in making our case. Many of
the new Constitutions that many of the Territories have or are
in discussions on give greater autonomy to locally elected Governments.
It would seem to be appropriate timing to make the case for the
UK to support the attendance of Overseas Territories' political
leaders at CHOGM.[269]
143. During our visit to Bermuda, ministers called
for Bermuda to be given the opportunity to speak at Commonwealth
financial conferences, rather than always having to sit behind
the UK representative.
144. We recommend that the Government
should give consideration to whether it would be appropriate to
support wider participation of Overseas Territories in Commonwealth
meetings and conferences, including the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting.
9 The British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Antarctic
Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands have
Commissioners rather than Governors. The Commissioner of the British
Indian Ocean Territory and the British Antarctic Territory is
the Director of the Overseas Territories Directorate in the FCO.
The Falklands Islands Governor is the Commissioner for South Georgia
and the South Sandwich Islands. The Governor of St Helena is also
Governor of its Dependencies (Ascension and Tristan da Cunha),
although each has a resident Administrator. Back
10
Ev 296 Back
11
Ev 144 Back
12
Ev 171 Back
13
Ev 144 Back
14
Except Bermuda for which the UK may only legislate by Act of Parliament,
or by Order in Council under an Act of Parliament. Back
15
Ev 144 Back
16
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Partnership for Peace and
Prosperity: Britain and the Overseas Territories, Cm 4264,
March 1999, p 4 Back
17
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Partnership for Peace and
Prosperity: Britain and the Overseas Territories, Cm 4264,
March 1999, para 2.7 Back
18
Ev 144 Back
19
Ev 88 Back
20
Ev 144 Back
21
Q 10 Back
22
Ev 220 Back
23
Q 10 Back
24
Ev 144 Back
25
Ev 296 Back
26
Q 226 Back
27
"Turks and Caicos Islands Conclude Successful Constitutional
Modernization Talks", Foreign and Commonwealth Office press
release, 10 April 2005 Back
28
Ev 144 Back
29
Ev 168 Back
30
Q 77 Back
31
Ev 247 Back
32
Ev 144 Back
33
Q 85 Back
34
HC Deb, 9 May 2008, col 1245W Back
35
Q 68 Back
36
Ev 274 Back
37
Q 9 Back
38
"Referendum in July", Caymanian Compass, 22 May
2008 Back
39
Ev 85 Back
40
Q 50 Back
41
HC Deb, 29 February 2008, cols 2023-2024W Back
42
Ev 373 Back
43
Ev 144 Back
44
Qq 83-84 Back
45
Ev 144; A resident of St Helena also told us that the constitutional
proposals were unsuccessful because the draft constitution's human
rights chapter did not include a right to nationality (Ev 311). Back
46
Qq 41-42 Back
47
Ev 144 Back
48
Q 31 Back
49
Ev 133 Back
50
Except Bermuda, whose government established a Constituency Boundaries
Commission in 2001. This led to amendments to the constitution
in 2003 which replaced the previous system of dual-member constituencies
with single-member constituencies. Back
51
Q 3 and 6 [Hon Kurt Tibbetts], Q 31 [Mr Leslie Jaques], Qq 41
- 42 [Hon Brian Isaac], Q 68 [Hon Osbourne Fleming], Q 70 and
71 [Dr Hon Lowell Lewis], Q 71 and 77 [Dr Hon Michael Misick],
Ev 85 [Falklands Legislative Council], and Q 226 [Hon Peter Caruana
QC]. BVI was the only Overseas Territory which did not do so. Back
52
Q 3 Back
53
Q 70 Back
54
Q 261 Back
55
Q 262 Back
56
Ev 144 Back
57
Foreign Affairs Committee, Twelfth Report of Session 2001-02,
Foreign and Commonwealth Annual Report 2002, HC 826, Ev
112 and Ev 144 Back
58
We also received an amendment to the draft constitution for the
British Virgin Islands in June 2007 (Ev 68). Back
59
Foreign Affairs Committee, Overseas Territories: Written Evidence,
HC (2004-05) 115, Ev 3 Back
60
The only such submission, from the Free Montserrat United Movement,
called for independence as an "ultimate" goal (Ev 267). Back
61
Bermuda Independence Commission, Report of the Bermuda Independence
Commission, August 2005, p 6 Back
62
Ev 270 Back
63
Ev 292 Back
64
Q 270 Back
65
Q 272 Back
66
Above all, the principle that the interests of Territory inhabitants
are paramount. Back
67
The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries
and Peoples Back
68
Resolution 1541 (XV) Back
69
www.un.org Back
70
Q 226 Back
71
Ev 296 Back
72
Ev 233 Back
73
"The General Assembly, recalling its decision 61/522 of 14
December 2006 and the statements agreed to by the Governments
of Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland in Brussels on 27 November 1984, and in Madrid on 27 October
2004, and noting the establishment, pursuant to the latter, of
the tripartite Forum of Dialogue on Gibraltar, separate from the
Brussels Process, under the statement made jointly by the Governments
of Spain, the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on 16 December 2004:
(a) Urges both Governments, while listening to the interests and
aspirations of Gibraltar, to reach, in the spirit of the 27 November
1984 statement, a definitive solution to the question of Gibraltar,
in the light of relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and
applicable principles, and in the spirit of the Charter of the
United Nations; (b) Welcomes the successful outcome of the first
package of measures concluded at the tripartite Forum of Dialogue
on Gibraltar." (62/523) Back
74
Q 192 Back
75
Ev 296 Back
76
Q 247 Back
77
Qq 247 and 248 Back
78
The issue is not sub judice for the purposes of parliamentary
debate since it is a ministerial decision that is in question.
See Resolution of the House governing matters sub judice, 15 November
2001. Back
79
Q 115 [Mr Gifford] Back
80
www.chagossupport.org.uk Back
81
Q 112 Back
82
Ev 105 Back
83
Ev 105 Back
84
HC Deb, 15 June 2004, cols 33-34WS Back
85
"Islanders who wait in vain for justice and a paradise lost",
The Times, 9 November 2007 Back
86
Ev 144 Back
87
Ev 105 Back
88
Public Accounts Committee, Seventeenth Report of Session 2007-08,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Managing Risk in the Overseas
Territories, HC 176, Q 17 Back
89
"Islanders who wait in vain for justice and a paradise lost",
The Times, 9 November 2007 Back
90
Public Accounts Committee, Seventeenth Report of Session 2007-08,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Managing Risk in the Overseas
Territories, HC 176, Ev 16 Back
91
Q 309 Back
92
Ev 312 Back
93
Ev 105 Back
94
Q 132 Back
95
Ev 294 Back
96
Public Accounts Committee, Seventeenth Report of Session 2007-08,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Managing Risk in the Overseas
Territories, HC 176, Q 20 Back
97
Ev 105 Back
98
Ev 345 Back
99
HC Deb, 20 January 2006, col 38WS Back
100
Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Report of Session 2006-07, Human
Rights Annual Report 2006, HC 269, para 80 Back
101
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Response of the Secretary
of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to the Third Report
from the Foreign Affairs Committee Session 2006-07, Cm 7127,
June 2007, paras 43 - 46 Back
102
Ibid., para 44 Back
103
Reprieve also made claims about stopovers of rendition planes
in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Back
104
Ev 182 and 203 Back
105
HC Deb, 21 February 2008, col 547-8 Back
106
Ev 310 Back
107
Ev 343 Back
108
Qq 304-306 Back
109
Ev 310 Back
110
Ev 345 Back
111
Oral evidence taken before the Foreign Affairs Committee on 7
May 2008, HC (2007-08) 533-ii, Q 59 Back
112
Ibid., Q 60 Back
113
Ibid., Q 61 Back
114
Ev 345 Back
115
Ev 312 Back
116
Qq 307-308 Back
117
"Court to decide on families' right to return to Diego Garcia",
Independent, 7 February 2007 Back
118
Q 121 Back
119
Q 112 [Mr Bancoult] Back
120
Q 311 Back
121
Ev 105 Back
122
Q 142 Back
123
Qq 310, and 312 - 313 Back
124
Ev 105 Back
125
Ev 105 Back
126
The proposal left open the possibility of pursuit of wider resettlement
rights in the future and in oral evidence Richard Gifford, the
Chagos Refugees Group's legal representative, stated clearly that
resettlement of Diego Garcia was also considered practically feasible
(Q 132). Back
127
Chagos Refugees Group/ UK Chagos Support Association, Returning
Home: A Proposal for the Resettlement of the Chagos Islands, March
2008 Back
128
Ibid., p 10 Back
129
Ibid., p 8 Back
130
Q 112 Back
131
Q 145 Back
132
Ev 115 Back
133
Ev 144 Back
134
Ev 95 Back
135
Ev 95 Back
136
Ev 95 Back
137
Ev 95 Back
138
Ev 95 Back
139
Q 175 Back
140
HL Deb, 22 May 2006, col 81WA Back
141
www.chagossupport.org.uk Back
142
HL Deb, 22 May 2006, col 81WA Back
143
HL Deb, 22 May 2006, col 81WA Back
144
Q 156 Back
145
British Overseas Territories Act 2002, section 6 Back
146
Ev 300 Back
147
Q 160 Back
148
Q 161 Back
149
Q 159 [Bancoult] Back
150
Ev 294 Back
151
Ev 300 Back
152
Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Foreign and
Commonwealth Office: Managing risk in the Overseas Territories,
HC (2007-08) 4, p 56 Back
153
Q 315 Back
154
www.fco.gov.uk Back
155
Ev 125 Back
156
Ev 125 Back
157
Ev 171 Back
158
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Partnership for Peace and
Prosperity: Britain and the Overseas Territories, Cm 4264,
March 1999, para 2.9 Back
159
Ev 219 Back
160
Consultation Document on the Future of Ascension Island Council Back
161
Q 316 Back
162
Q 315 Back
163
Q 318 Back
164
Q 28 [Hon Brian Isaac], Q 70 [Dr Hon Lowell Lewis] and Q 71 [Dr
Hon Michael Misick] Back
165
Q 193 [Hon Joe Bossano] and Q 234 [Hon Peter Caruana QC] Back
166
Ev 85 Back
167
Ev 224 Back
168
Q 2 Back
169
Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report of Session 1997-1998,
Dependent Territories Review: Interim Report, HC 347, para
42 Back
170
Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Special Report of Session 1997-1998,
Dependent Territories Review: Interim Report Government Response
to the Second Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, HC
1192, para 10 Back
171
Q 234 [Hon Peter Caruana QC] and Q 273 [Meg Munn MP] Back
172
Q 4 Back
173
Q 4 Back
174
Ev 85 Back
175
Q 21 [ Mr Turner] Back
176
Q 69 Back
177
Q 274 Back
178
Ev 144 Back
179
Q 13 [Hon Kurt Tibbetts], Q 32 [Councillor Summers], Q 32 [Hon
Brian Isaac] and Q 74 [Dr Hon Michael Misick] Back
180
Q 72 [Hon Osbourne Fleming] and Q 73 [Dr Hon Lowell Lewis] Back
181
Q 11 Back
182
Q 29 Back
183
Ev 85 Back
184
Q 13 [Hon Kurt Tibbetts], Q 32 [Councillor Summers] and Qq 75-76
[Dr Hon Michael Misick] Back
185
Ev 88, 171, 186, 220 and 252 Back
186
Ev 88, 186 and 220 Back
187
Ev 326 Back
188
Ev 88 Back
189
Ev 186 Back
190
Ev 88 Back
191
Ev 144 Back
192
Ev 144 Back
193
Q 74 Back
194
Ev 220 Back
195
Ev 85 Back
196
Ev 171 Back
197
Ev 133 Back
198
Q 13 [Hon Kurt Tibbetts] and Q 32 [Councillor Summers] Back
199
Ev 88 Back
200
Q 335; except Gibraltar and the Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus. Back
201
Ev 357 Back
202
www.ukota.org Back
203
"New London Office", Government of Gibraltar press release
279/2007, 19 December 2007 Back
204
Ev 224 Back
205
Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report of Session 1997-1998,
Dependent Territories Review: Interim Report, HC 347, para
63 Back
206
Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Special Report of Session 1997-98,
Dependent Territories Review: Interim Report Government Response
to the Second Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session
1997-98, HC 1192, para 20 Back
207
Ev 132 Back
208
Ev 132 Back
209
Q 237 Back
210
Ev 88 and 220 Back
211
Ev 88 Back
212
If Territories want to negotiate an agreement with a sovereign
state or international organisation where there is no existing
UK treaty or similar instrument, the Crown can formally "entrust"
the Governor with the power to conclude the agreement. Entrustments
are now also sometimes given to Territory governments for a specific
treaty and, more rarely, for treaties within general categories.
Bermuda, Gibraltar and the Caribbean Overseas Territories have
standing entrustments to negotiate tax information exchange agreements.
Bermuda and BVI also have standing entrustments in other specified
areas. (Ev 144) Back
213
Ev 144 Back
214
Ev 144 Back
215
Q 324 Back
216
Q 325 Back
217
See also para 114. Back
218
Q 16; The British Virgin Islands' Financial Services Commission
also highlighted the fact that the UK had committed the Overseas
Territories to the Directive without prior consultation and argued
that the Directive had given Bermuda, which was left out, a competitive
advantage over other Territories. (Ev 226) Back
219
Q 40 Back
220
Q 18 Back
221
Ev 85 Back
222
Ev 88 and 171 Back
223
Ev 88 and 220 Back
224
Ev 88 Back
225
Ev 171 Back
226
Bermuda is not included at its own request. Back
227
The EC Treaty applies to the Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus only
to the extent necessary to ensure the implementation of the arrangements
set out in the Protocol on the Sovereign Base Areas annexed to
the Act of Accession of the Czech Republic and others to the EU.
(Ev 144) Back
228
Ev 144 Back
229
See Chapter 4 for discussion of the Cayman Islands' government's
management of this disaster. Back
230
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Partnership for Peace and
Prosperity: Britain and the Overseas Territories, Cm 4264,
March 1999, para 2.16 Back
231
Q 16 Back
232
The Community Customs Territory and Common Commercial Policy (and
thus Community rules on the free movement of goods do not apply);
the Common Agricultural Policy; the Common Fisheries Policy; and
the requirement to levy VAT. Back
233
Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Foreign and
Commonwealth Office: Managing risk in the Overseas Territories,
HC (2007-08) 4, 16 November 2007, p 51 Back
234
Q 200 Back
235
Qq 230-233 Back
236
Q 249 Back
237
Q 251 Back
238
Q 250 Back
239
Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report of Session 1997-1998,
Dependent Territories Review: Interim Report, HC 347, para
62 Back
240
Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Special Report of Session 1997-98,
Dependent Territories Review: Interim Report Government Response
to the Second Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session
1997-98, HC 1192, para 19 Back
241
Foreign Affairs Committee, Fourth Report of Session 1998-99, Gibraltar,
HC 366, para 104 Back
242
Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords, A House
for the Future, Cm 4534, January 2000, para 6.29 Back
243
Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords, para 6.30 Back
244
Ev 144 Back
245
Q 66 Back
246
Ev 220 Back
247
Q 110 Back
248
Qq 110-111 Back
249
Ev 168 Back
250
Q 239 Back
251
Q 201 Back
252
Q 337 Back
253
Section 2 Back
254
Resolution of the House 26 May 1818 Back
255
Erskine May, 23rd edition (London, 2004), p 152 Back
256
"On the 10th May, 1733, complaint was made that
Jeremiah Dunbar, Esq., had been censured by the House of Representatives
of Massachusetts Bay, for evidence given by him before a committee
on a bill, upon which the house resolved, nem. con., 'That
the presuming to call any person to account, or to pass a censure
upon him, for evidence given by such person before this house,
or any committee thereof , is an audacious proceeding and a high
violation of the privileges of this House.' " (Erskine
May 13th edition (London, 1924), p 131) Back
257
Ev 72 Back
258
Ev 72 Back
259
Ev 242 Back
260
Ev 72 Back
261
"Gibraltar seeks recognition from governing bodies",
Reuters, 16 December 2006 Back
262
Ev 242 Back
263
Q 106 Back
264
Ev 132 Back
265
Q 241 Back
266
Ev 88 Back
267
HC Deb, 20 November 2007, col 1087W Back
268
Q 240 Back
269
Ev 132 Back