New Cayman Premier on Bridge-Building Mission to UK

The new Cayman Premier (Juliana O’Connor-Connolly) and other government officials are flying to London to meet the UK’s foreign office minister, Mark Simmonds, on Monday and Tuesday.

With just five months of the interim administration’s term to go before elections are held, some Caymanians have been questioning whether the trip would serve any useful purpose, but there is certainly a lot of bridge building to be done to restore good relations between the two territories following a torrid period of bad tempered exchanges when McKeeva Bush was in post.  Government minister Mark Scotland said. “The visit being made in the next week is not simply about the next few months, it’s about mending and rebuilding the relationship with the FCO and the UK because of what’s happened in the last few years and then strengthening it for the time going past the upcoming election.”

The delegation will doubtless be trying to smooth the waters, but will also need to discuss Cayman’s budget situation, which remains precarious.  It is not yet clear whether the Island will need to request an increase in the Cayman Islands Government’s overdraft facility, but the picture will become clear within the next couple of weeks, with January being a critical period for financial services revenues.   Cayman’s budget is being scrutinised this week by the FCO’s economic advisor Richard Holmwood, who is currently in Cayman.