UK's overseas territories losing confidence in Chris Bryant's leadership

UK's Foreign Office Minister, Chris BryantChris Bryant, will conduct his first Overseas Territories Consultative Council [9, December] since taking office in this role in October of this year. Overseas Premiers and territory leaders will be in attendance for this annual gathering in London. On the agenda is Chris Bryant's plan to heal some open wounds in the Caribbean territories which has caused relationship strains.

Noticeably absent from the guest list for this OT conference is a local representative from Turks and Caicos' government in the Caribbean. In August, the UK took over governance of that island territory which has caused the strain that is to be the main topic of discussion at the conference.

Since October, when Chris Bryant snagged the prestigious post of Foreign Office Minister and Minister of State for Europe, much information has been revealed about Mr. Bryant.

Aside from his openly gay lifestyle, having posed in a gay magazine with just his briefs, Mr. Bryant was part of a parliament scandal. The scandal involves expenses submitted by members of parliament, and particularly Bryant, over a five year period. The scandal includes the corrupt practice by Members of Parliament to submit expenses for second homes for which they either rented for income or "flipped" (resale) after paid renovations. According to pubic sources, "Chris Bryant claimed over £92,000 in expenses over the five years leading up to 2009. During that time he flipped his second-home expenses twice, claimed mortgage interest expenses that started at £7,800 per year before rising (after flipping) to £12,000 per year. He also claimed £6,400 in stamp duty and other fees on his most recent purchase, and £6,000 per year in service charges. A claim that he made for £58,493.26, almost three times the annual maximum, in 2004, was disallowed."

This expense scandal was the basis for many to discredit Bryant's moral authority to make decisions in territories which are deemed corrupt, such as Turks and Caicos.

Another source of tension is the belief within the Caribbean territories that UK's micromanagement of Turks and Caicos is unwarranted and not welcome there or in the other territories. Honourable Ralph T. O'Neal Premier of the British Virgin Islands and finance minister, has been publicly vocal about his discontent of UK's presence in Turks and Caicos. Mr. O'Neal has said that UK's actions were "drastic" in taking Turks and Caicos' government and that warnings and rehabilitation were not identified or offered. " I believe that the Governor is there and he must have known what was going on," said O'Neal. The Governor, Gordon Wetherell was previously installed in Turks and Caicos and has since taken sole governance of the islands and has reportedly failed to make decisions with input from the island leaders. Mr. O'Neal of BVI further states that he thinks what the UK is doing in the Turks and Caicos is, "a wrong thing to the people."

Other items to be discussed at the annual conference is the increased tax on travel by the UK which will drive up the cost of tourism, an economic advantage that the Caribbean cannot afford to stall.

http://www.bvinews.com/all_news/general/8752.html
http://www.caymannewsservice.com/headline-news/2009/12/08/bryant-says-uk-will-step-when-ots-fail-finance