The UK FCO has repeatedly indicated that “a referendum is the preferred route” to independence by its Overseas Territories.
However, when pressed on the issue at a meeting in Cayman, Meg Munn provided a little more detail on their stance:
Mike Gapes MP, Chairman of the Committee, asked whether an overseas territory would be granted independence without a referendum taking place in that territory.
Ms Munn responded that the British government’s position is that, a referendum is the way by which a territory should indicate that it wanted to have independence, but that does not rule out other mechanisms which might be acceptable – for example, if a political party went into an election on the basis that it would pursue independence and there was a clear majority for that party.
When pressed by Committee member Malcolm Moss MP, as to the acceptable level of support for independence on the basis of a general election manifesto, Ms Munn responded that if a territory wanted to go for independence on the basis of something other than a referendum, it would entirely depend on the circumstances.
Ms Munn said that, if a political party went into an election saying that it wanted independence and received 90 percent of the vote, that would be a different situation from a scenario described by Mr Moss, where only 50 percent of the vote supported an independence manifesto. “We would want to consider that matter,” Ms Munn said.
She went on to say that in her current dialogues with overseas territory governments, “I have not heard any expressions of a desire for independence.”
