Junior Minister Lorna Smith
Junior Minister for Financial Services Lorna Smith has cautioned lawmakers against discarding the entire law enforcement and criminal justice review despite strong opposition to some of its recommendations.
Speaking in the House of Assembly, Smith described the 300-page document with 375 recommendations as one of the most debated reports she has seen in her time in office.
“There is a great temptation with this report to throw the baby out with the bath water,” she stated. “I am of the view… that even though there is that great temptation, that there are some good recommendations, and therefore we should resist that temptation,” Smith argued.
Smith highlighted positive proposals in the report as authored by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Andy Cooke, including the revival of community policing and improved treatment of vulnerable persons. However, she criticised recommendations to combine the Customs and Immigration departments under the Governor’s authority, calling the move “retrogressive and totally unacceptable and unnecessary”.
The report, commissioned as part of recommendations from the UK-ordered Commission of Inquiry (COI), has sparked backlash from local leaders who say it oversteps in areas critical to the territory’s autonomy.
Smith joined others in rejecting the suggestion that the BVI must accept all provisions of the report, even though the government had agreed to the review. “We cannot wear these clothes. We cannot accept many of these recommendations,” she declared.
She took issue with several aspects, including the report’s economic implications and suggestions to centralise power under the Governor. “Sir Andy Cooke did not understand the basis of this economy, nor did he understand what I would call the lay of the land,” she said, referencing proposals to close transportation links like Taddy Bay Airport in Virgin Gorda.
Smith pointed to sections of the report that address illicit finance and warned about misleading conclusions. “I completely reject this assertion and will continue to do so,” she said in response to claims that a greylisting of the BVI could harm both local and UK economies.
Despite her criticisms, Smith acknowledged that some parts of the report warrant action. “This is another such area that leads me to encourage us not to throw out the baby with the bath water,” she stated while addressing the need for better protection against domestic violence and support for young people.
She ended by urging unity.
“There are not two sides in the House. There is one side… acting in consort to make sure that the second volume of this report, what we can accept… will be for the good of this territory,” Smith concluded.
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