Relations between Cayman and the UK deteriorate dangerously

Relations between the Cayman Premier McKeeva Bush and the UK have sunk to a new low. 

In November of last year, McKeeva Bush signed a Framework for Fiscal Responsibility with the UK government, in light of UK concerns regarding governance in the Island and its large fiscal deficit.  The FFR was designed to reduce risk and increase accountability in public decision making, and to control public spending within a tightly defined framework.

However, it now seems that the Cayman Premier feels that he is in a position to call the shots and tell the UK government which bits of the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility he is prepared to honour and which he chooses not to.   He has stated that the FFR will only be passed into law with a series of amendments which he is proposing – something which the UK’s overseas territories minister, Mark Simmonds, has made very clear is completely unacceptable. 

It is astounding that a politician of McKeeva Bush’s long experience should feel that he can simply ignore binding commitments publicly given by him, and is an eloquent example of why the UK had concerns about the governance of the Islands in the first place.  It may well be that McKeeva Bush genuinely feels that the FFR is not right for the Cayman Islands and it is in the interests of the Caymanian people that it should be changed, but if that is the case then he should not have signed the agreement last November.

In addition, McKeeva is insisting on going ahead with a partnership with Chinese investor CHEC in relation to a proposed new cruise port, again despite the clear opposition of the UK.  The Premier said he did not believe that Mark Simmonds was aware of all the facts regarding the port, but once he was, he felt sure he would support the project.

In a statement delivered in the Legislative Assembly today Bush told the parliament that if the UK was, as it claimed, a reasonable partner, it could not object to the changes he had made to the FFR bill.  I would argue that it is not unreasonable for the UK to expect the Cayman Islands’ Premier to honour agreements made less than a year ago.

He has also levelled some powerful criticisms of the current governor, saying:

“So far, the only ‘help’ coming from the present Governor – has been to keep our economy flat, people unemployed and unable to pay their mortgages and lose their homes – all of which has exacerbated the rise in the level of crime at gunpoint”.   

What puzzles me is why McKeeva Bush feels he is in a position to take such a defiant stance.  In a letter to the FCO last week (which appears to have bypassed all the usual protocols for correspondence between the two territories), he wrote that Cayman can be led but not pushed, and makes it very clear he will be doing things his way.  In fact, he is entirely wrong in this analysis.  The UK can indeed push.  The Cayman Islands are a British colony and as such are capable of being ruled directly from the UK.  Those who doubt that the UK government would take such a drastic step would do well to learn the lessons from Turks and Caicos.  If direct rule was imposed, it would be disastrous for the Islands’ financial services industry.

The current situation leaves the Cayman and UK governments at what many are already suggesting is a very worrying stand-off and there will be many hoping that an urgent resolution can be found before the situation spins out of the Islands’ control.