Overseas Territories (Governance)

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[Sir Alan Haselhurst (Saffron Walden) (Con)]

It is very good to be here under your chairmanship, Dr McCrea, as I recall that you were the first representative of Northern Ireland in my time as Chairman of Ways and Means to join the Panel of Chairs. You have clearly relished that appointment, and I know how much time you devote to it.

The debate is timely, in that it is taking place shortly after the UK and overseas territories joint ministerial council. The debate provides an opportunity for parliamentarians to offer their perspective on the relationship between the United Kingdom and the overseas territories and, indeed, the relationship of the overseas territories to the Commonwealth as a whole. I do not think that it needs stressing that there is great good will in this Parliament and, I guess, in the country as a whole towards our overseas territories. I dare say that if people in general were asked, “Which are the overseas territories?” not everyone would be able to name them for sure, but there is a feeling that by their very nature they have a close relationship with this country, so they must be a good thing. I hope that the debate will further underline that friendship and the support that exists at Westminster for the territories. I recognise that that may not be without criticism from time to time, but friendship is devalued if there cannot occasionally be plain speaking.

My hon. Friend the Minister and probably other colleagues will be pleased to know that I will not attempt a tour d’horizon. To do so would represent the most enormous cheek on my part, because, of the 14 overseas territories, I have only as yet visited one, and that was 40 years ago. Admittedly, it was one of the most inaccessible—St Helena. I was there with a Labour colleague, Ray Carter, the then Member for Birmingham, Northfield, and our recommendation on returning was that the island needed an airport. That has not happened quickly, but it is very satisfying that there is now a commitment to seeing an airport constructed. I hope that I shall be blessed with a long enough parliamentary life to be able to make a return visit to that splendid island.

However, I am hoping, in the course of 2013, to up my score with direct knowledge of the overseas territories, in that I am expecting to attend the British Islands and Mediterranean region conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, which will be held in the Falkland Islands; the executive committee of the CPA is due to meet in 2013 in the Cayman Islands; and I also hope to schedule at some point in that year a visit to Gibraltar.

I currently wear two hats that provide me with some credentials to initiate the debate, being the chairman of the UK branch of the CPA and the chairperson of the international executive committee of the CPA. My starting point—my theme—is the wording in the June 2012 Foreign and Commonwealth Office report on the overseas territories, which declares:

“We would welcome greater engagement between the UK Parliament and the elected bodies of the Territories.”

From the CPA’s point of view, that seems exactly right. We can be an instrument to ensure that that engagement takes place. I would widen it to suggest that there could be greater engagement between the Commonwealth as a whole and the territories. The report to which I have referred suggested that our Government should seek a form of observer status for overseas territories within the Commonwealth. At the moment, they are only members through the UK’s membership. There may be some difficulties about that, but the fact is that they are very much part of the Commonwealth family and I believe that they should be given some form of status that underlines the value that we see in their membership.

It is a widely shared belief and one that is certainly at the core of CPA activities that good governance is the key to advancing the well-being of any jurisdiction, large or small. We believe in the CPA that we can play a key role. The CPA exists not just to promote better relationships, but specifically to enhance knowledge and understanding of democratic governance. Eight out of the 14 overseas territories are branches of the CPA in their own right. The UK branch undertakes, on behalf of this Parliament, parliamentary diplomacy and parliamentary strengthening activities. It involves Members of Parliament and our officials, because our expert Clerks are able to give guidance to those in the overseas territories who are seeking to set up their own arrangements. There is a constant need for that engagement, because a consequence of democratic elections is that there is sometimes quite a large turnover of elected members, so someone will come into a Parliament or legislative assembly and suddenly say, “That’s great, but now what do I do? How can I be an effective member of this body?” Sometimes there is a need to be able to reach out and talk to someone else. Those people need not be exclusively from the UK by any means, but the ability to have that guidance can be very useful.

As I said, eight of the 14 overseas territories are branches of the CPA. Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands come under the Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic region. The Falklands, Gibraltar and St Helena come under the British Islands and Mediterranean region. I think that we ought to promote as standard the idea that there should be available to the territories, first, the possibility of election observation missions and, secondly, post-election seminars. The hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty), who has been closely involved in that type of work, will probably wish to expand on that if he seeks to catch your eye, Dr McCrea. Both those types of activity ought to be seen as core activities. We should not be entirely satisfied if that is not a service that is universally available to the overseas territories. It was therefore rather disappointing—I do not know whether the Minister will be able to comment on this—that the Bermudian Government in the end decided that they did not wish to take up that possibility. It ought to be seen as a non-threatening exercise that is of positive value in the territories involved.

[James Duddridge (Rochford and Southend East) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend refers to the situation in Bermuda. Is the issue the fact that it did not take election observers from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association or the United Kingdom, or that there was no independent election monitoring during the elections or will not be in the elections coming up?

[Sir Alan Haselhurst]

We are certainly not trying to impose; it is a matter of finding the right composition for any mission of that kind, whether during or after an election. The composition should be constructed according to what seems most appropriate. In fact, some Crown dependencies—the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey—have shown a willingness to offer, from the perspective of themselves as small jurisdictions, the kind of assistance that might be valuable to our overseas territories. I want to emphasise that it is not about the United Kingdom knowing best; there is wider experience that can be drawn upon, as demonstrated by the mission to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The CPA could also play a bigger part internationally. At present, the nature of the CPA, and one of its complications, is that it is not an association simply of states; provinces and states within a federal Government arrangement can all be individual branch members, as can overseas territories, small countries and so on. We have nearly 180 branches in membership.

The small branches conference, which takes place every year, organised by the CPA, is a great experience for our overseas territories. Not only do they meet with an agenda expressly about the needs of smaller jurisdictions—they have some issues in common, but also issues peculiar to them—but there are topics relevant to branches with populations smaller than 500,000. Providing an arena in which they can realise that they are not alone and that others around the Commonwealth and across the oceans have similar issues is one of the valuable services that the CPA provides. We should intensify the efforts to help many such small jurisdictions.

Apart from what might be described as steady, perhaps unspectacular, continuing work, how else might we turn the warm words, which we frequently use when we speak of the overseas territories, into solid action? There are calls for closer integration between the overseas territories and this country. Some other countries are very closely integrated with their overseas territories, which have direct representation in their legislatures and so on. That may be a more difficult question for the UK, but to illustrate to the overseas territories how seriously we take them, something more than an all-party group—presided over with great vigour by my hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell)—might be appropriate.

Returning to the island of St Helena, let me say that there are parts of the world with which we have an historical association that deserve solid support. I mentioned that I came back from the island absolutely convinced of the need for better communication to give that small territory a fair chance for its population, because the opportunities for work and wealth creation are limited by the enormous difficulties in getting in and out of the island. It has taken a long time, but I am delighted that there is a real prospect of air communication with the island.

Another thing I came away with—and from the anecdotes I hear from colleagues, I suspect that it is true—is the belief that there are tremendously warm feelings and a tremendous sense of loyalty towards this country in our overseas territories, which we have not perhaps rewarded as generously as we should. My visit to St Helena was a long time ago, but I doubt whether much has changed in that particular. It was very difficult to find a household on the island, however lowly or grand, in which there was not a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen or her father on the wall. I do not think that one could say that of our country. We take our loyalty to the Crown for granted, but they were very proud to display it. We ought to remember that enormous good will in our dealings with our overseas territories, to see whether we can give them an enhanced sense that we are thinking about them and are ready to do the right things to support them.

There is one specific that it would be wrong of me to overlook: air passenger duty. It impacts particularly hard on some of the island territories. I was one of a group of colleagues who sought to persuade the Government to review the present banding arrangement, which was perverse in its effect, particularly on territories in the Caribbean. In the end, the review disappointingly led to no change. There are special links between the territories and ourselves. APD should be looked at again.

I cannot for the life of me believe there is no way to help specifically. If we identify certain territories as considerably dependent upon us, cannot they be ring-fenced as a group, so that there could be some concession on the amount of APD that applies? I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister might start to exercise a little discourse between his office and the Treasury to see whether, in pursuit of demonstrating stronger support for the overseas territories, a concession on APD might be found.

If we are honest, the relationship between this country and the overseas territories, despite the warm words I have used on this occasion, is not without its hiccups, but we need to be aware that underlying loyalty and support generally emanates from them towards this country. As I have tried to emphasise, we owe them more and we should look for every way to intensify the closer engagement that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office professes to want to encourage. We should do everything we can to intensify that to our mutual advantage.

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[Ian Lucas]

That is absolutely right. Elections in a democracy are about competition between parties. Campaigning is incredibly important, and politicians are much more familiar with that skill than even the most experienced electoral registration officer. It is therefore important that communication takes place, although the far-flung nature of the overseas territories makes it difficult for them to have the interactions that we have developed over the years. We should build strongly on our experience in that respect.

The other relevant issue—to be slightly more controversial —is financial transparency; I was pleased that it played an important part in the Foreign Office White Paper “The Overseas Territories: Security, Success and Sustainability”. The Government were clear about the importance of financial transparency, which is of great importance at present to my constituents and others across the country.

As democracy develops in the overseas territories, we must ensure that the transparency that goes with a well functioning democracy is also evident in their financial and taxation affairs. When we work with the overseas territories, and the British taxpayer makes a contribution to assist them, we cannot have a situation in which businesses and individual UK citizens might use them to avoid paying tax. We need to work with them to ensure that international principles on fair dealing in taxation matters are a central part of their developing democracy.

It is hugely important that the connection that the CPA has developed through visits over a number of years should continue. We should try to encourage more Members of Parliament to take part in such visits. There are many new Members, some of whom have arrived here only in the past month or so, and they need to know the importance of engaging with the overseas territories and with other countries beyond the UK and the important role that parliamentarians play in ensuring that good governance is spread across the world.

I pay tribute to the right hon. Gentleman and my hon. Friend for their hard work, for which they are not thanked often enough. There is huge respect abroad for the work of the CPA and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and our colleagues abroad value the commitment of this Parliament—the mother of Parliaments—to developing institutions in countries that are building a level of democracy that we want to encourage.

I am pleased to support the thrust of the White Paper, which was published earlier this year. Clearly, it builds on the 1999 White Paper published by the then Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, under the previous Government. The Opposition have noted the commitments made to the overseas territories, and we strongly support applying the principle of self-determination to them. We want to ensure that they have a close link with this country, but we also want, in an age of devolution, to ensure that they have sufficient autonomy to deal with their individual circumstances and to build a democratic system appropriate to them.

[Sir Alan Haselhurst]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his kind words. Does he agree that the serious discussion we are having gives the lie to the general mockery that occurs in the press whenever Members of Parliament try to improve relations with, and democracy in, other parts of the world—particularly those closely associated with us?

[Ian Lucas]

That is certainly the case. That work is often unseen; it is demanding and difficult and involves much discussion and thought. Much assistance is given to overseas territories, which have the difficult task of designing government—something that has taken 1,000 years in this place. It is hugely important to share our experience.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Simmonds]

As the hon. Gentleman may have picked up in his visits to the TCI and, to a lesser extent, to the BVI and elsewhere, there are always tensions between elected representatives and the Governors both in terms of who has responsibility for what and the perception—sometimes incorrect—that the UK Government are not always on the side of the elected representatives in a particular territory.

In a spirit of partnership and friendship, we should be listening to each other, but that does not always necessarily mean that we will agree. I have full confidence in all the Governors currently in place, and I said so forcefully at the JMC last week. Governor Todd in particular has done a significant job in running the interim Government who were put in place after the elected territorial Government were suspended, back in August 2009. On 9 November when the elections took place, he put the TCI in a significantly stronger place, across a whole range of areas, than the one in which they were in 2009.

Finally, I confirm that this significant area of policy will become increasingly important as we develop the workstreams highlighted in the communiqué. I am delighted that colleagues have expressed their positive desire to remain engaged and to make intelligent suggestions as to how we may develop the partnership even further.

[Sir Alan Haselhurst]

Before my hon. Friend concludes, will he say whether he will take away the comments on air passenger duty, which has a particularly perverse impact on the smallest territories?

[Mark Simmonds]

I apologise to my right hon. Friend. I was not avoiding air passenger duty; I just did not see the piece of paper I had written it on.

My right hon. Friend will not be surprised to hear that I was lobbied vociferously both by the leaders of overseas territories in the Caribbean last week and by the wider Caribbean community. He will also be aware not only that there was a review of the operation of APD but that there was a meeting fairly recently, between representatives of the Caribbean high commissioners here in London and a Treasury Minister, to discuss APD further and to understand the issues.

I suggested to both the territories’ leaders and to those elsewhere in the Caribbean that there had already been significant discourse between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Treasury, and that discourse continues. Those Caribbean leaders need to provide us with evidence of the negative impact of APD, particularly on the tourist industry. Mixed messages and mixed evidence are coming through so far.