More from the UK FCO on referenda last month:
As the 1999 White Paper pointed out, the United Kingdom’s policy towards the Overseas Territories rests on the basis that it is the people of each Territory who determine whether they wish to stay linked to the United Kingdom or not. The United Kingdom has no intention of imposing independence against the will of the people concerned. It has been the established policy of successive British Governments to give every help and encouragement to those Territories where independence is the clearly and constitutionally expressed wish of the people, where this is an option. At this time, the presumption of the United Kingdom Government is that a referendum would be the way of testing opinion in those Territories where independence is an option. But the final decision on whether a referendum is necessary, and what form a referendum might take, would need to be determined by the United Kingdom, in the light of the particular circumstances in each Territory.
