H.E. The Governor’s Speech At Reception To Mark The Opening Of The Anguilla House Of Assembly, 26 February 2010

Madame Speaker, Chief Minister and members of the Government, Leader of the Opposition and other members of the House of Assembly
 
Former Speakers, former Chief Ministers, former members of the House
 
Representatives from our neighbouring countries.  All invited guests.
 
I should like to welcome you all to Government House on the occasion of the opening of the House of Assembly.  It is a particular pleasure to welcome the new Speaker and to congratulate her on her election - the first woman to hold office in the  history of Anguilla. I believe that she holds one of the most difficult jobs in Anguilla and I wish her well in her important duties.
 
Anguilla is a democracy and I am conscious that it was right that the Governor, who holds no elected mandate, should be a spectator this afternoon. My duty tonight is to salute a key moment in Anguillian democracy, and to undertake that the partnership between the appointed Governor and the elected Government will remain strong in the months and years ahead. My role as Governor is to work with the elected Government for the good of Anguilla.
 
In that context I repeat as I have said before that I warmly welcome the Chief Minister's priorities as he outlined them at his swearing in last week. I know that the British Government welcomes the scope and ambition of the AUM's manifesto.  And I know that the British Government will continue to work with the Government and people of Anguilla at this critical time.
 
The Chief Minister spoke last week of the need to improve social peace in Anguilla, an objective which we all share. With my constitutional responsibility for internal security I have an obvious role to play, and I will do so in partnership with the elected Ministers. The goal of social peace requires all parts of Government and society to work together in partnership. As a practical example of this, the Deputy Chief Minister and I visited the prison earlier this week. Both of us are committed to work together to meet the challenges that we saw during our visit - to ensure that the demands of justice and humanity are both met.
 
The Chief Minister also spoke last week about the priority need to tackle the economy and public finances, which Hon Richardson eloquently described this afternoon as being under the weather. It is clear that there are serious and immediate challenges to tackle. The Government are addressing the short-term issues energetically. The Budget will provide an opportunity to demonstrate Anguilla's determination to address the current deficit with both short term and medium term measures. 
There have been important exchanges between the GoA and the Minister for Overseas Territories about Anguilla's borrowing. The latest letter from Chris Bryant to the previous Finance Minister outlines the conditions under which current borrowing has been undertaken. Chris Bryant has also agreed, with all the Overseas Territories, to reconsider and if necessary revise the borrowing guidelines.
The Chief Minister also spoke last week of his desire to establish good relations with the UK Government through an early visit to London. I am pleased that he and his senior team will be visiting London en route to the OCT/EU Annual Forum in Brussels in March.  This visit will be paid for by the European Union, which is good news for the budget here.  
I fully endorse the Chief Minister's desire to root out corruption, which was also endorsed by the Leader of the Opposition this afternoon – to root it out where it is established and to remove opportunities for perceptions of corruption, and to enhance Anguilla's reputation as a clean place to do business. With my own responsibility for the regulation of international financial activity I work closely with the FSC, the FIU in the RAPF, the Attorney-General's chambers and others. Anguilla has taken steps to improve compliance with international standards which in the new era of post-financial crisis is a priority in order to remain in business and to attract more good business to Anguilla.  The elected Government and Governor are also working together on Anguilla's response to the Foot Review. I also fully share the intention in the AUM manifesto to promote the financial services industry better.
 
Anguilla has also embraced the importance of tax transparency and its progress has been recognised almost worldwide. We are working on plans to sign a twelfth TIEA and get off a blacklist on which we have just found ourselves.
 
The new Government has also mentioned its desire to encourage the tourism and hospitality industries on which Anguilla depends. I am sure that it is right that ever better marketing of Anguilla in the current economic downturn is the key. We have a wonderful product. As I said to the AHTA when I arrived, anything I can do personally to help I will gladly do.
 
Finally, the Chief Minister mentioned last week his Government’s intention to press ahead with modernisation of the Constitution. The FCO team are ready to enter into dialogue as soon as the Government is ready. The Government’s desire to improve the electoral laws may in some cases require constitutional change which could be subsumed in the same exercise.
 
I am of course politically neutral and it is my constitutional duty, which I fulfilled last week, to appoint both the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. In that spirit I would like to conclude by joining myself to sentiments that they respectively expressed this afternoon. The Chief Minister said that the Government are servants of the people of Anguilla, and I too am a servant of the people and commit myself to working in partnership with the Government. To put it another way, as the Leader of the Opposition said, we must all work together for the good of the people of Anguilla.