Is a new relationship between Britain and its Caribbean Overseas Territories needed?
Last month Britain published two significant post-Brexit policy documents setting out its future thinking on foreign policy, defense, security, and development. Both referenced in general terms the importance to the U.K. of its 14 Overseas Territories located around the world.
The relationship was encapsulated in the suggestion that shared interests “bound together” the citizens of the United Kingdom, the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, “giving us an advantage in an increasingly competitive global environment and a distinctive and influential voice in the world”.
Whether this view is mutually held is unclear.
Speaking recently to some in the Caribbean Overseas Territories and others elsewhere who take an interest in their future, most suggest that although the ties remain beneficial, the relationship is eroding. They caution that a new, more modern, and autonomous form of partnership may better serve those who live in Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos.
The sense is that developments in the last few years have raised significant questions about the way the U.K. is seeking to manage the relationship.
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