Commonwealth islands "could get Westminster seats"

[doktorb]

Voters in Britain's "forgotten" remnants of empire should be allowed to directly elect their own MPs to the House of Commons. Under a new proposal to be considered by Parliament, the member for Antigua might sit alongside the member for Aldershot, while the representative for the Turks & Caicos might find themselves waving their order papers at MPs from Tooting and Chichester. Territories ranging from Anguilla in the Caribbean, via the Channel Islands, Gibraltar and the Falklands to St Helena and South Georgia in the South Atlantic could be given a louder voice in determining how they are governed from London.

Andrew Rosindell MP, a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, who is pressing for a parliamentary debate on the issue, says action is needed to plug the "democratic hole" that hundreds of thousands of British citizens find themselves in. "Our parliament ultimately governs 21 territories around the world, but those territories have no voice in this parliament, they elect no representatives and have no representation, unlike former colonies and territories of other countries. We give them nothing. All they have is an informal all-party group. We have a democratic hole with hundreds of thousands of people for whom we make laws, whom we ultimately govern and on whose behalf we can declare war, make foreign policy and sign international treaties."

Lillian Missick, chair of the Turks & Caicos consultative council, welcomed the move. "A seat in the UK parliament ... will also formalise links with British society as a whole that come with the opportunities our people have to live, work and study in the UK."

Guy Opperman, Tory MP for Hexham, said the Falklands and other British territories should have a legal guarantee of self-determination rather than rely on the "whim of Whitehall". As tensions with Argentina over the Falklands escalate ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1982 war, he said Parliament should pass a law guaranteeing the right of Britain's 14 overseas territories to choose their own fate.

In a debate on Tuesday, he will call on the Government to try to lift the Argentinian-inspired trade blockade of the Falklands. He added: "The Falkland islanders are rightly worried about this anniversary and the actions that Argentina is now taking to prevent access and trade, which we fear may escalate."

Source - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/remote-islands-may-get-seat-in-the-commons-6296313.html

[RogueBeaver]

If T&C is for it, this should be enacted ASAP.

[Sibboleth]

Only if the same rules for constituency size is applied to them. Or, alternatively, non-voting delegates.

[Smid]

Only if the same rules for constituency size is applied to them. Or, alternatively, non-voting delegates.

I was thinking a number of MPs based on population/constituency size, which could then be elected through PR. Larger territories would therefore have a greater say in the election than smaller territories, but all the territories would have representation, not disproportionate to the constituencies in the UK.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Do what we do and give each territory a number of MP's based on legislation.

[Joe Republic]

I'd like the 48 citizens of Pitcairn to elect an MP with the same voting power as the member for, say, Isle of Wight. 

[Vasall des Midas]

For.

Then end the tax haven status of most of them. I do hope this bill includes Man and the Channel Islands?

[Јas]

So what will be the Atlas submission for the constituency review?!

Some quick wiki numbers...

97,857  Jersey
84,655  Isle of Man
65,573  Guernsey
64,000  Bermuda
51,384  Cayman Islands
32,000  Turks and Caicos Islands
28,800  Gibraltar
27,000  British Virgin Islands
13,500  Anguilla
  5,661  Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha 
  4,655  Montserrat
  2,955  Falkland Islands
       51  Pitcairn

I presume Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the British Indian Ocean Territory, and the British Antarctic Territory are excludable.

[YL]

No representation without taxation...

[doktorb]

So what will be the Atlas submission for the constituency review?!

Some quick wiki numbers...

97,857  Jersey
84,655  Isle of Man
65,573  Guernsey
64,000  Bermuda
51,384  Cayman Islands
32,000  Turks and Caicos Islands
28,800  Gibraltar
27,000  British Virgin Islands
13,500  Anguilla
  5,661  Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha 
  4,655  Montserrat
  2,955  Falkland Islands
       51  Pitcairn

I presume Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the British Indian Ocean Territory, and the British Antarctic Territory are excludable.

*South Atlantic and Pitcairn
*Jersey
*Isle of Man
*Guernsey
*Turks, Caicos and Cayman  Islands
*Gibraltar
*Caribbean Sout

[Hashemite]

Any theories on how these different places might vote? This has always been one of the things which has interested me.

[Χahar]

Would South Atlantic and Pitcairn be classified as a county constituency?

[ObserverIE]

Any theories on how these different places might vote? This has always been one of the things which has interested me.

I think that you can take it that Bermuda, the Caymans, Jersey, Guernsey and Ellan Vannin would be safely Tory for financial reasons, with the Falklands and Gibraltar being Tory for cultural reasons.

Having said that, Rosindell is a marginal type within his own party, so I can't see this proposal going anywhere.

[Novelty]

*South Atlantic and Pitcairn
*Jersey
*Isle of Man
*Guernsey
*Turks, Caicos and Cayman  Islands
*Gibraltar
*Caribbean Sout

That's an interesting grouping.  Does Gibraltar meet the population quota for a constituency?

[Vasall des Midas]

Any theories on how these different places might vote? This has always been one of the things which has interested me.

I think that you can take it that Bermuda

has a Black majority, racial tensions, gang violence, a grotesquely exaggerated GDP and cost of living that masks the fact that (while doing okay by Caribbean standards, I guess) it's not a first world place by any stretch, an active independence movement and a government party sort of affiliated to Labour, and using Labour as part of its name, that is formally committed to independence (but not doing anything because they're not sure they'd win a referendum).
Though the quasi-Tories that governed it for 30 years until 1998 remain perfectly competitive. It's as pure a two-party system as Jamaica's.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

I think they'd create 13 seats. One for each dot on the map, except for the Falklands, Pitcarin, BIOT, S. Georgia, and Antarctic, which would be in the same constituency.

[You kip if you want to...]

I think they'd create 13 seats. One for each dot on the map, except for the Falklands, Pitcarin, BIOT, S. Georgia, and Antarctic, which would be in the same constituency.

How in God's name could 1 person represent all of those?

[Vasall des Midas]

Uh, that's 51 permanent inhabitants outside the Falklands.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

61 in 2011.

[Platypus]

I'd go with six seats:

Isle of Man
Channel
Southern Territories (ie, everything in the southern hemisphere)
Gibraltar (including the Cypriot territories, bgut not in the seat name)
Outer Caribbean (Bermuda, Anguilla, BVI)
Inner Caribbean (Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands)

...Montserrat could go with either, but probably the latter for population balance.

Whatever method is chosen, I strongly support adding their voices to Westminster.

[Јas]

9 seats...

Isle of Man
Jersey
Guernsey
Gibraltar
Bermuda
Cayman
Turks & Caicos
Leeward (BVI, Anguilla, Montserrat)
Southern Territories

[Bacon King]

Do the Cyprus bases, Diego Garcia, or British Antarctica even have permanent inhabitants?

[Novelty]

Do the Cyprus bases, Diego Garcia, or British Antarctica even have permanent inhabitants?

Nope.  They don't.

[Michaelf7777777]

I strongly support the idea of representation for all adult citizens so I am firmly in favour of this proposal.