Written statement on UK-Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council 2025 - Jan 13

Minister for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories (Stephen Doughty): The thirteenth UK-Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) was held from 24 – 27 November 2025 in London. The Council was attended by elected Leaders and representatives from Anguilla, Ascension, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, the Pitcairn Islands, St Helena, the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Tristan da Cunha and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Overseas Territories make invaluable contributions to our British family. The UK has a responsibility to defend the OTs, to ensure security and good governance of the Overseas Territories and their peoples.

The JMC is the highest forum for political dialogue and consultation between the elected Leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories and UK Ministers. We met under the strapline of ‘Protect, Grow, Sustain – Together'. This reflects the UK's desire to build closer relationships, based on mutual respect and inclusion, and to transform the UK's relationship with the Overseas Territories for us to deliver greater security, prosperity and sustainability.

In my capacity as Minister for the Overseas Territories, I chaired the Council. During the Council, the Foreign Secretary met the elected Leaders to discuss UK and Overseas Territories' priorities. Other UK Ministerial colleagues who participated in the discussions included: The Rt Hon Lord Hanson of Flint Minister of State (Lords Minster) at the Home Office, Mary Creagh CBE MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Nature) at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Katie White OBE MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Climate) at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Lucy Rigby KC MP Economic Secretary to the Treasury; The Lord Coaker Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence; and Jake Richards MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sentencing, Youth Justice and International, Ministry of Justice. The UK Special Representative for Nature Ruth Davis OBE, the UK Commonwealth Envoy, representatives from UK Export Finance, the National Cyber Security Centre, the Alan Turing Institute, Health Innovation Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, Glasgow 2026 Organising Company, AtkinsRéalis and British Expertise International also participated in discussions.

We were deeply honoured that His Majesty The King hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for those attending the Joint Ministerial Council. The Commons Speaker hosted a dinner for elected Leaders and representatives in Parliament.

The UK Government and the elected Leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories reaffirmed our support to the five principles I set out last year to guide the UK's relationship with the elected Governments of the Overseas Territories:

1. devolution and democratic autonomy for the Overseas Territories;
2. listening to the Overseas Territories, following the principle of “nothing about you without you”;
3. partnership with the Overseas Territories based on mutual respect and inclusion - rights come with responsibilities;
4. good governance and ensuring proper democratic accountability and regulation; and,
5. defending the Overseas Territories' security, autonomy and rights, including the right of self-determination.

The Council agreed priorities and set out commitments and areas for joint work in the year ahead. The elected Leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories and I agreed to develop Partnership Compacts between the UK and any Territory that wishes to join. Partnership Compacts are intended to provide tailored, practical frameworks for advancing shared priorities, and to signal a renewed commitment to partnership. At the Council we agreed the basis upon which to develop the Partnership Compacts in a collaborative manner. We agreed that the 2012 Overseas Territories White Paper remained the component foundation of our partnership as complemented by recent statements and agreements. I confirmed our intention to develop a UK Government Charter to strengthen commitments from our side on how the UK Government engages with the Overseas Territories.

The key themes of discussion at this year's Council were: continuing the reset of the relationship between the UK and the Overseas Territories; security and irregular migration; economic growth and diversification; tackling illicit finance; AI and innovation in healthcare; cyber security; nature, climate and the environment; official development assistance (ODA); Sport and the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. We also discussed a range of other issues. The discussions were open and forward-looking, demonstrating a mutual commitment to strengthening the partnership.

We discussed the crucial work of Overseas Territories in managing unique and globally significant environments and ecosystems, as stewards of 94% of Britain's unique biodiversity, and we reflected on the outcomes of COP30. With Mary Creagh CBE MP (Minister for Nature) and Dr Gemma Harper OBE (Chief Executive Joint Nature Conservation Committee) we launched the UK Overseas Territories Biodiversity Strategy – the UK and the Overseas Territories united for nature.

We reviewed the complex security and irregular migration threats facing the Overseas Territories. The UK is committed to collaborating proactively with all Territories to fulfil our duty to defend the people of the Overseas Territories and strengthen security and justice across the UK family. Together with the elected Leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories, we emphasised that these serious challenges, including from serious and organised crime, require sustainable solutions through comprehensive, multi-agency approaches – including coordination, defence, operational support, reform across security and criminal justice sectors, regional cooperation and targeted action addressing underlying social issues.

According to ONS data, the UK's trading relationship with its Overseas Territories would place them collectively among the UK's top 25 trading partners. We are committed to strengthening this partnership and supporting practical steps to unlock further growth. The JMC included sessions with UK Export Finance and a business engagement and networking event with UK companies delivered in partnership with British Expertise International. We will continue to build on such initiatives to help deliver mutual prosperity for peoples in the UK and Overseas Territories.

The UK and Overseas Territories re-affirmed our joint commitment to tackling illicit finance, by upholding and continuing to strive for the highest international financial standards. I noted the importance of the Overseas Territories delivering on previous commitments, including at the last Joint Ministerial Council, to expand access to their registers of beneficial ownership. We welcomed the launch of St Helena's Publicly Accessible Register of Beneficial Ownership, and the commitment by the Falkland Islands to implement their register next summer. We welcome the launch of legitimate interest access registers of beneficial ownership in the Cayman Islands – and their commitment to make further improvements to user access - and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The UK underlined the urgency of delivering progress in that constructive endeavour with Territories that have yet to satisfy our expectations on access and transparency on these issues. We agreed to hold further technical discussions and I will chair a discussion with elected Leaders at a Ministerial Illicit Finance Dialogue in the first quarter of 2026. The UK reiterated its ultimate expectation of fully public registers of beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories, and we will continue to pursue that objective in future discussions.

We welcomed the work of Overseas Territories in sanctions implementation and enforcement and reiterated our offer to work with Overseas Territories to enhance this area of work. A range of other detailed discussions were also held bilaterally on specific issues affecting the Overseas Territories related to constitutions, public services, infrastructure and relations with neighbours and the UK.

We agreed a joint communiqué, which was issued following the conclusion of the Council and published on the gov.uk website.