Junior Minister for Financial Services Lorna Smith has suggested that two members of the BVI’s own negotiating team blocked the territory from achieving greater constitutional advancement during talks with the United Kingdom in 2007.
Speaking in the ongoing House of Assembly debate on constitutional review, Smith said the BVI was close to securing a major shift — allowing the Premier, rather than the Governor, to chair Cabinet — but the team was divided.
“I have to say that two of the negotiators in that room — and two of the negotiators in this room today — will attest to the fact that we could have made a lot more advancement in our constitution were it not for two very strong dissenting voices. I ain’t calling on names. Who the cap fits,” Smith told the House.
Though she declined to name the dissenters, her remarks echoed what other elected leaders have said in previous debates: that internal divisions within the BVI team cost the territory a rare opportunity to secure stronger powers.
Her comments also add context to the repeated calls for unity ahead of the next round of negotiations with the UK. Still, her refusal to identify the two negotiators may draw scepticism from the public. Some residents have long complained that elected leaders shield each other at the expense of transparency, and this disclosure could fuel those concerns as constitutional reform remains one of the most consequential processes for the territory’s future.
Smith stressed that the issue of who chairs Cabinet is not symbolic, but fundamental to advancing internal self-government.
“The recommendation made in 2005 was that the Governor be simply informed of the business of Cabinet prior to its meeting, including being presented with all documentation, while the Premier be the chair,” she said.
She argued that the current arrangement — where the Governor chairs Cabinet but does not have a vote — gives disproportionate influence to the UK-appointed official.
“I’m always amused by the fact that the chair doesn’t have a vote. He has no authority but in my observation he’s the most powerful voice in Cabinet,” Smith said.
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