The United Kingdom’s present political and economic crisis is likely not to affect its commitment to the British Virgin Islands or its support to the implementation of the Commission of Inquiry Report recommendations.
This is according to the opinion of His Excellency Governor John Rankin who made the comment less than 24 hours prior to the resignation of the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Liz Truss.
On Wednesday October 19, Governor Rankin was asked by local media about his thoughts regarding the instability of the Liz Truss Administration and the possible effects it could have on Overseas Territories and the implementation of the COI recommendations.
He responded by stating, “I believe that the United Kingdom’s commitment to supporting the BVI as an overseas territory, will remain unchanged and the fact that Minister Norman is now coming here next week, early in his appointment as a minister for the Overseas Territories, I think, is a clear demonstration of that.”
“So, I don’t expect any change in that commitment of support for the BVI and commitment to supporting the work of implementation of the Commission of Inquiry recommendations,” Governor Rankin added.
Just prior to the aforementioned response, the governor had announced that the Minister for Americas and the Overseas Territories, the Right Honourable Jesse Norman, will be visiting the British Virgin Islands next week Thursday and Friday.
It is now unclear whether Minister Norman will be following through with the announced plan to visit the territory, in light of the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Truss.