Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab): My Lords, this brings me to another
of my special interests, and one that I have been pursuing for some
time. Amendments 14 and 15 concern the Isle of Man, the Channel
Islands—namely Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark—and the
dependent territories. I will not mention all of the dependent
territories, because those such as the Falklands are not quite so
relevant in this context, but they include Gibraltar, the Cayman
Islands, Turks and Caicos the British...Request free trial
(Lab): My Lords, this
brings me to another of my special interests, and one that I have
been pursuing for some time. Amendments 14 and 15 concern the Isle
of Man, the Channel Islands—namely Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and
Sark—and the dependent territories. I will not mention all of the
dependent territories, because those such as the Falklands are not
quite so relevant in this context, but they include Gibraltar, the
Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos the British
Virgin Islands and Bermuda. I mention those particularly and not by
chance, because many are well known as tax havens and the offshore
basis for companies whose principal trade and activities are
elsewhere, and not on those islands...
...It is therefore the British Government who have
responsibility for ensuring that all these territories maintain
their international obligations. How is this done? What monitoring
takes place? Who is responsible for it? The Government of
the Turks and Caicos Islands
have had to be suspended not once but twice. Interestingly, that
was by a Conservative Government. I was the opposition spokesman on
foreign affairs the first time that the constitution was suspended.
The then Minister, Tim Eggar, came to me and asked whether the
Opposition would agree. Of course, we did so because of some of the
things that were going on in the islands. There has to be very
careful monitoring of this...
The Advocate-General for Scotland () (Con):...The
behaviour of the overseas territories is monitored by the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office and there are instances in which, for the
purposes of good governance, the United Kingdom will intervene in
the affairs of an overseas territory. The noble Lord himself gave
an example in respect of the Turks and Caicos Islands
where that has been done...
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