Overseas Territories

Maria Miller Excerpts

Thursday 11th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Dame Maria Miller (Basingstoke) (Con)]

I declare my interest as chair of the UK Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns) on calling this debate, thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting it, and welcome those members and colleagues who have joined us in the Gallery for this important debate. I also thank Mr Speaker and others for their incredible support of the overseas territories, making sure that they are not forgotten and, I hope, not seen as a backwater.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Amanda Milling) was right in what she said. The 14 overseas territories are part of us. They are with us at every event, whether it be the loss of our Queen or the coronation of our King. They are not foreigners, as my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Henry Smith) has just said, and they are not the Commonwealth. They should be dealt with, supported and embraced as part of our nation.

Self-determination is crucial to the overseas territories, but, by virtue of the fact that the Crown, through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has quite large powers to legislate and direct, we have a responsibility to our overseas territories here in Parliament to ensure that those powers of Government are exercised carefully and fairly, and this debate is part of that today.

We have already had one example of when things go wrong. Last year’s Joint Ministerial Council, for example, was cancelled at late notice. There are infrequent opportunities for individuals to come here from the overseas territories and get decisions that may be long overdue. Overseas territories should not lose out because of things that are going on in our Government; they should be put above that. If representatives from the overseas territories require more help, more ministerial resources, I ask my hon. Friend the Minister—I do mean friend because he is a friend of mine—whether he would consider making sure that they are made available to them.

We know that the challenges faced in the overseas territories are as unique as the territories themselves— St Helena, the Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha and Pitcairn. I have to say that when my right hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase was talking, I was grasping my badge from the Falkland Islands. When I was there it was May 2020. I think I was there for just a few days—I missed out on being there a lot longer because of the pandemic—but we had a wonderful welcome none the less. The territories are all very different and all very vulnerable in their own ways. They are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. I remember talking to some colleagues from Montserrat about the continuing impact of the volcanic eruption that was many decades ago now but still continues to be felt locally. As our Government continue to focus on protecting the environment and setting ambitious net zero targets, perhaps the Minister could say a little about what more support we could give our overseas territories in this effect as well.

As chair of the UK CPA, Mr Deputy Speaker, you would expect me to turn most of my comments to the role of our organisation in helping support governance in the overseas territories. It is the UK branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association that does the most extraordinary amount of work to support the UK overseas territories project. Work done by the UK CPA supports the UK Government in discharging their constitutional responsibility to ensure good governance in the overseas territories. The project began in 2016 and works with each territory alongside the National Audit Office and the Government Internal Audit Agency to enhance good governance and oversight of public finances. These things are vital to ensure the flourishing of the territories, and the CPA runs many bilateral and multilateral meetings on top of that.

At the end of last year, parliamentarians visited Westminster for the Fifth Overseas Territories Forum on the oversight of public finances and good governance. The Speaker of St Helena visited last year, and the CPA facilitated a Clerk secondment to the Anguilla House of Assembly last July. There was the Westminster seminar in March and other meetings. The CPA does a huge amount to fill some of the gaps left by the Government’s approach to the overseas territories, and we are very grateful to the Government for allowing us to have that opportunity. At a time when our budgets are under pressure, I hope the Minister might also take the opportunity at the Dispatch Box today to reconfirm the Government’s commitment to the CPA’s role in this and commit to ensuring that we have budgets available to do so in the future.

If time allowed, I would also have spoken about Girl Guiding UK, but I will have to leave that for another day. The withdrawal of girl guiding in the overseas territories is something that I will be exploring with them directly.