UK Member of Parliament Lord Nigel Jones, has come out against United Kingdom’s direct rule in the Turks & Caicos Islands. The Liberal Democrat peer had several pointed questions this week directed to new Minister of State to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Lord David Howell.
Lord Jones admonished the UK b stating: “The Turks and Caicos Islands are in a peculiar position, because they were a prosperous overseas territory until just over a year ago, when the previous government decided to impose direct rule following a report from Sir Robin Auld citing suspected corruption. I oppose direct rule. It has gone down like a lead balloon with the islanders and many CARICOM countries. Business confidence has collapsed and proposed developments have been abandoned.”
“As a result, the TCI economy has run into deficit, costs are rising while a special prosecutor takes her time deciding whether any charges are to be made, and the many Haitian workers on TCI are living in dire poverty because no one can afford to employ them anymore and there is no point going back to Haiti following the devastating earthquake there,” said Jones.
During an Overseas Territories debate last Wednesday, Lord Jones told the House of Lords and the FCO that the Turks & Caicos Island’s economy has collapsed due to the UK take over. Jones asked, “Who is going to pick up the tab for the catastrophic collapse of the economy [of Turks & Caicos]?”
Lord Jones will take up the answers to his direct questioning of UK’s actions in the coming weeks.
