The British Overseas Territories are fourteen communities of British citizens, from Gibraltar and the Falklands to Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and St Helena, each with its own government, its own history and its own place in the British Family. They are sovereign British territory, and with that comes a responsibility Westminster has too often treated as an afterthought.
When Conservative Friends of Overseas Territories (CFOT) was founded two years ago, we argued that the Territories needed a louder voice within our Party. This week at Conference in Birmingham we publish A New Era of Partnership, a paper that sets out to answer that question.
The Government has allowed policy on the Overseas Territories to drift. The last strategy governing the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories was published in 2012. A refresh was promised in 2024, interrupted by the general election, and has not been seen since. Responsibility is divided between the Foreign Office, DEFRA, the Ministry of Defence and HM Treasury, with no single Minister or Department answerable for the whole. The result is a relationship that is administered rather than led, and Territory governments who too often learn of decisions affecting their future from the press.
Nothing has exposed that drift more clearly than Chagos. It remains hard to think of another example in modern British history where a government has chosen to give up sovereign territory and pay to do so. Labour agreed to transfer the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius and to pay an average of £101 million a year for 99 years to lease back a base on what had been our own land. It was negotiated in secrecy, with the Chagossians themselves shut out, and defended in haste by Ministers who told Parliament for two years that it was essential to national security. Ministers put the cost at £3.4 billion, while the Government’s own figures, released under Freedom of Information, pointed to nearly £35 billion. It is now on hold, reconsidered not because the Government thought again but under pressure from allies, from Parliament and from its own unresolved paper trail. In the end it took the President of the United States to tell the Prime Minister it was a terrible deal.
Every other Territory has watched that episode closely, and none more so than the Falkland Islands. Only last month President Milei told the United Nations that the principle of self-determination should not apply to the Islanders. In 2013, 99.8 per cent of them voted to remain British. The lesson of Chagos, for those who wish to test our resolve, is that British sovereignty may be open to negotiation. A Conservative Government must leave no doubt that it is not.
The first task is to put the relationship on a proper footing. We propose a new UK–Overseas Territories strategy within the first year of a Conservative government, written jointly with the Territories and not handed down to them. We propose a Cabinet Committee on the Overseas Territories, chaired by the Prime Minister, so that the relationship is owned at the centre of Government and not passed between departments. And we propose a “no surprises” principle, under which Territory governments are consulted before positions are fixed and not informed once the decision has been taken.
The second is to ensure that Chagos can never be repeated. The sovereignty of an Overseas Territory is a constitutional question of the first order. It should not be capable of being settled by executive agreement alone. Our paper proposes that no change to the sovereignty or constitutional status of a Territory should take effect without the prior approval of Parliament. Governments would remain free to negotiate. They would not be free to give away British territory without the consent of the House.
The third is to treat the security of the Territories as part of the security of the United Kingdom. That means a standing security and resilience partnership with Territory governments, stronger enforcement against the illegal fishing fleets operating in the South Atlantic, and resilience funding that is planned over several years. Hurricane Irma caused £4.4 billion of damage across Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2017. The Territories should not have to negotiate for help after every storm.
The fourth is to build on a record of which Conservatives can be proud. The Blue Belt Programme and Darwin Plus were both begun under Conservative Governments, and they have made the Territories central to Britain’s contribution to protecting the world’s oceans. Blue Belt now needs funding it can plan around, and Darwin Plus should give the Territories a greater say over how the money is spent.
The last is prosperity. Some Territories still depend on British aid, and the aim of policy should be economies that can stand on their own. The paper sets out practical measures to that end, including extending to other Territories the access to UK financial services markets that Gibraltar already enjoys.
The ideas in the paper are our own. They have been shaped by eighteen months of conversations with Territory governments and their representatives in London, but they do not speak for them, and we would not presume to.
The Overseas Territories are not a relic to be managed. They are British communities who look to Westminster for security, consistency and partnership. Under Labour they have had drift and, in the case of Chagos, something a good deal worse. Our Party should make this agenda its own before the next manifesto is written.
A New Era of Partnership is available at cfot.co.uk. If you would like to become a member or a parliamentary champion of CFOT, we would be delighted to hear from you.