Roughly 3K persons sign anti-public registers petition
Ayana Hull
Approximately 3,000 persons in the British Virgin Islands affixed their signatures to a petition objecting to the United Kingdom’s ‘public registers’ policy being imposed on British Overseas Territories.
The petition will be officially handed over to the Governor Augustus Jaspert who has returned from a recent trip abroad.
“We were allowed some more time to get the additional signatures together and I believe that at my last count we were just under three thousand,” said Member of the Decision March Committee, Ayana Hull at a press conference earlier today, June 1.
She said there are outstanding petition papers still to be collected.
Numbers impactful
Hull said the number exceeded their expectations.
“I think it is an overwhelming response. We were trying to get 2,000 and we felt that it would be a good response. So anything over that was gravy for us in terms of what the attempt was and what the approach was,” she said.
Hull further said the numbers reflect the total number of direct jobs that would be affected if the territory accepts the UK’s policy.
“There are about 3,000 jobs that are at stake in the financial services industry directly and about 5,000 indirectly. So a petition number of 3,000 — if we had to look at that in context — will represent over 10 percent of the population in the BVI,” she said.
“I don’t know what percentage it would be of the adult population but it would be higher than that.”
The petition
Hull then gave insight into what the petition entailed.
She said the petition demonstrates the BVI is a “free people” who are protecting their constitutional rights along with other Overseas Territories.
The petition also includes the 2007 Constitution agreement between the UK and the BVI. The Constitution effectively said the BVI would have responsibility for matters affecting the BVI including tourism and financial services, while the UK would have purview on matters involving foreign policies and national security.
The petition will also include an entrustment letter dated June 7, 2007, as well as compliance letters showing the BVI’s transparency in its financial services sector.
The public registers controversy is an amendment to the UK’s Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill. The Bill received royal assent late last month. BVI and other Overseas Territory must implement these registers by December 31, 2020.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
I honestly think we marched TOO SOON! When the organisers were advertising they stated the other OTs would have been marching in solidarity.
However, BVI was the only country to march. Could this be a direct correlation why Lord Ahmad is visiting the other OTs and not us?
When have an indignant child you ignore them. Why should he visit the B.V.I.
The leaders and those who follow them miscalculated their importance.
News flash…90% of the population didn’t sign! Not such a strong headline is it?
90% of the population never signs anything. Get a grip. That is a good number of petitions signed
Blimey! This kind of vodoo analysis is why the UK feels the need to go the full monty. They know incompetence when they see it. This Act cannot be rolled back. The trust companies and bar association have not exactly been falling over each other in defense of the BVI. Have they? Many other prominent voices including those of politicians are also bizzarely quiet. So let us spend this time and energy and money on hurricane preparations.
Idk how a meager 10% of the overall population is call for “Impactful Numbers”…
Great. Right now the UK parliament and HM must be messing their collective pants. And wringing their hands out of pure fright and anxiety. Anyone for afternoon tie and kike.
Why the gloat and negativity? You sound like one of those bitter, racist expats whom we can do without in the BVI.
I believe that this lady is totally mistaking the powers in charge. This law is not amending and the UK will not bow to these special interest groups.
The government will have to abide by the law or face the consequences.
Use time and money to rebuild the country.
Yawn….
10%. But that is what we would expect of the BVI population, unless it were carnival….
10% of the BVI population represents 0.00457% of the UK population. Sure the U.K. parliament is going to put this on the agenda……
FACT – The UK Parliment will only debate an issue if it receives a petition on more than 150,000 signatures.
The thing everybody ignores about this new legislation is that it isn’t just the BVI. It isn’t just the UK. US, China, EU, UK, and several African banking centers like Sechelles are all doing the same thing. This is a global financial system changing. Everybody will have public books within the next decade. Countries that refuse will get sanctioned by the IMF and no countries will be allowed to do business with them. That is what people are signing and marching for. It’s totally inacurate information being spread by people with an interest In nothing changing. BVI could use this as a chance to lead in a global banking transition and really put themselves on the map. But instead a bunch of people walked around in the street for P———— to declare war on the UK and all under the false pretenses that people in the UK even listened in the first place. They don’t care if BVI goes independent- you send literally .2% of the GDP to the UK and it cost more for them to administer the territory. This effort and money should rebuild the hurricane infrastructure, not have people in the streets.
@CW you took all the words right from my mouth.
Mark of the beast in the making
Please be on guard.
Does this include all the school children (primary and high school) that were there too?
You know the ones… not old enough to vote??
Precisely. Matters involving foreign policies and national security for the UK of which the BVI is a part at least for now is the perogative of the UK parliament and HM. And do not forget Sec 119 and final paragraph of the often mentioned BVI Constitution 2007; Reserved powers for HM. Now perhaps there is a caveat or not much of one because it has already been implied in the UK Parliament a few times: paraphrasing; BVI and other OTs do not have a gun to their head; have a choice. But as long as She remains a Territory the law which is a legislative tool for FP/NS must apply. No choice. Pure and simple.
Having said that the odds are that BVI will be fine ultimately. The UK is not that bad after all. They assume always the divine responsibility to help out any of their less fortunate, confused, and helpless subjects. And they do help. For example the post hurricane loan guarantee and precedent setting RECOVERY AGENCY ACT.
Seize the time. We have problems in these beautiful corrupt Virgin Islands.
““We were allowed some more time to get the additional signatures together and I believe that at my last count we were just under three thousand,” said Member of the Decision March Committee, Ayana Hull at a press conference earlier today, June 1.”
How will a petition signed by just UNDER three thousand people in an OVERSEAS territory make an impact when petitions in the UNITED KINGDOM PROPER need to have TEN THOUSAND SIGNATURES to be acknowledged by the UK government, and ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND SIGNATURES to be considered for debate in parliament?: https://www.gov.uk/petition-government
Obviously, the total population of the British Virgin Islands does not touch 100,000, but surely, in solidarity with the other OTs whom this legislation affects, the aim should have been higher than a mere two to three thousand? Why aim so low, and why act as though the BVI is alone in this?
Several marks missed here, particularly the timing, given that Royal Assent has already been given and this is now LAW.
Yall should have passed it around to all organizations so people could have signed. You would have gotten more signatures. Plenty people didn’t want to walk but wanted to sign.
When President for Life P———– takes the ( former ) BVI independent and refuses to provide a public register, the USA , EU and others will simply put them on a black list of non compilers and impose sanctions again them.
It is is going to happen in spite of poorly supported marches and petitions. What we should be asking for is more time to comply to give us a level playing field with the Crown Dependencies and others.
Heard someone say they wrote down all whose names they remembered. I would hope they had permission from those persons to do so.