The Labour Party’s landslide victory at the polls last Thursday presents a fresh opportunity for the United Kingdom to establish a genuine modern partnership with the overseas territories.
During the previous 14 years of Conservative Party rule, the UK’s relationship with the territories was severely strained by heavy-handed UK government policies and actions that smacked of colonialism, particularly in the Caribbean.
It also did not help that four OT ministers were appointed between 2021 and 2024 due to UK political instability.
Limited success
Late in the previous British government’s term, former OT ministers Lord Zac Goldsmith and David Rutley attempted to repair the relationship, but they achieved limited success.
The UK and OTs did adopt a joint declaration in December 2023 that sought to reframe the relationship and encourage the UK government to consult the OT governments on decisions affecting them in order to avoid future impositions and heavy-handed policies.
The joint declaration was also meant to improve the UK’s international reputation at the United Nations, Caribbean Community and Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States — where it was perceived that the UK had reverted to its imperialist past.
However, plans to publish a new OT strategy to guide UK policy going forward were never realised as the electoral clock ran out on ministers.
An opportunity
The gap left by the Conservatives leaves an opportunity for the new Labour government under the leadership of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy to consider their own strategy toward the OTs, which could involve a much better balance in the UK-OT relationship if Labour genuinely wants to improve things.
At the same time, Labour must be careful to not simply see the OTs through the narrow prism of Gibraltar and the Falklands, which are the only two territories mentioned by name in the section of the party’s manifesto that commits to protecting the OTs and defending their right to self-determination. These commitments should be explicitly affirmed for all the inhabited territories.
At the same time, the new Labour government must avoid limiting the scope of its engagement with the other OTs, particularly in the Caribbean, to company transparency, corporate taxation, security and marine biodiversity.
To do so would be to repeat the mistake of the Conservatives, who narrowly focused on these issues and overlooked the islands as communities of real people living normal lives as they navigate their own daily challenges and aspirations for themselves and their societies.
Areas of concern
Critical areas for stronger UK-OT cooperation are climate change, sustainable development, economic resilience, security, democratic governance and self-determination — all of which should take into consideration regional specificities.
More immediately, the UK and Caribbean territories must collaborate on disaster preparedness and emergency response as the highly active Atlantic Hurricane Season progresses after Hurricane Beryl.
These key areas can also serve as the basis for a new modern partnership between the UK and OTs in which each territory can thrive and go on to achieve its highest aspirations, supported by the UK in its role as administering power.
Way forward
For a genuine change in the UK’s relationship with the territories, the new Labour government and OTs must seize the opportunity to genuinely reset the relationship through proper consultation on UK policy and strategy and OT needs and aspirations.
The UK will also have to tangibly demonstrate its commitment by making available access to the technical assistance and financial resources needed by each inhabited territory to help them meet their full potential.
The opportunity is now for the UK and OTs to establish a new modern partnership that is fit for purpose in the post-Brexit and post-Conservative era.
Mr. Wheatley is the premier’s special envoy and a Continuing Policy Fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge.