Brexit and the Overseas Territories: Repercussions for the Periphery

Abstract

There are 14 United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), of which nine are associated with the European Union (EU) via the Overseas Association Decision (OAD) adopted by the EU in 2013. Gibraltar, meanwhile, is part of the EU under Article 355(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. Only the citizens of Gibraltar were able to vote in the referendum on the United Kingdom's (UK) membership of the EU, but the consequences for all are potentially very significant. The UKOTs benefit currently from economic and environmental cooperation, as well as development assistance and policy dialogue. The article considers briefly the growth of the relationship between the UKOTs and the EU, before setting out the key aspects of the relationship which the Territories are keen to maintain. The second half of the article focuses on the (minor) role the UKOTs played in the referendum debate, and what might happen to the present levels of cooperation as the UK disengages from the EU.

COVID-19 and the British Overseas Territories: a comparative view

“…The decision of Britain to leave the EU was significant, as none of the territories were in favour, although of course only Gibraltarians had a vote. The EU provided important benefits to the OTs, including in relation to trade access, bilateral and regional aid, and policy engagement in Brussels (Clegg, 2016). The OTs are not confident that Britain will make good the losses.…”

“…Several issues animate the contemporary relationship between the OTs and Britain, including the economic and security-related challenges posed by Brexit (Benwell & Pinkerton, 2016;Clegg, 2016); strained constitutional relations, related inter alia to the imposition of anti-money laundering laws and social legislation enhancing LGBTQ+ rights (Yusuf & Chowdhury, 2019); as well as concerns over Britain's responsiveness to aid and reconstruction in the aftermath of natural disasters (see Pinkerton & Benwell, 2017;Clegg, 2018). As recently as September 2020 tensions between the British-appointed Governor to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the territory's Premier risked a constitutional crisis over the Governor's decision to invite the Royal Navy to shore up the territory's maritime borders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (CNW, 2020).…”

Thinking Europe Otherwise: Lessons from the Caribbean

“…Britain controls 14 overseas territories with different forms of statehood and degree of self-determination in the Caribbean, the West Atlantic, the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, and Europe (Clegg, 2018). Yet references to sovereignty during the Brexit negotiations rarely engaged these territories, except in the case of Gibraltar – the only one located in continental Europe and the only full EU member among them.…”