The issue of British citizens being granted the right to hold office and vote in British Overseas Territories (“BOTs”) was raised during yesterday’s session of UK Parliament by Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell.
Rosindell questioned a British Government Minister on the Foreign Affairs Committee report’s proposal that British nationals be eligible to run for office in the BOTs. Minister of State Alan Duncan noted that the local governments of those jurisdictions set their own laws, and the government would be considering the report and responding to the FAC in due course.
He noted that the FAC recommended government initiate a consultation with the elected governments of the BOTs to agree a plan to ensure that there is a pathway for all resident UK and BOT citizens to be able to vote and hold elected office in the particular territory.
The report states “there is [no] justification to deny legally-resident British Overseas Territory and UK citizens the right to vote and to hold elected office” and the UK government should “set a deadline for phasing out discriminatory elements of belongership.”
The UK government has two months to determine how or it if it will proceed with the FAC’s recommendations which have received bipartisan objection in Bermuda, with both Premier David Burt and Opposition Leader Craig Cannonier stating they do not agree with the concept of allowing voting rights for non-Bermudians and in the Cayman Islands where Premier Alden McLaughlin likened the move to an attempt to take over that territory and force independence.
