London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

'We don't need appeasing' from the UK - Skelton-Cline to Gov Jaspert

'We don't need appeasing' from the UK - Skelton-Cline to Gov Jaspert

criticises lack of concrete answer regarding VI's plea for COVID-19 financing from UK

Skelton-Cline has in the past petitioned the Governor to ask the UK for a definitive answer on their decision over a request from Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie for a grant to match what the VI was making available to its unemployed population as a result of COVID-19.


Protocols frustrating recovery efforts - Skelton-Cline

While the UK has committed to helping the VI, Governor Jaspert said the VI has healthy financial reserves and that the Territory can handle its own affairs.

It was also announced that a UK navy ship had visited the Territory and used the opportunity to scope approaches to the islands as part of preparations for the hurricane season, affirming UK's commitment to the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean.

According to Skelton-Cline, "We don't need no flyovers, what we need is the relaxation or the waving of some of those components in the instruments, the Protocols for Effective Financial Management that is interrupting, that is frustrating our capacity to recover and to develop this country," he said on the April 20, 2020, edition of his show, Honestly Speaking.

'It's like having a girlfriend [and] she keeps telling you all I want to do is for us to spend twenty minutes on the couch and talk, you keep sending her flowers, she don't want no flowers, she wants communication, she wants quality time," he said.

According to the man of the cloth, the VI is not looking for the UK and the Governor to seem relevant by 'being seen' and just doing something mundane for the Territory.


Petition to UK on Protocols

Speaking during a live COVID-19 update to the Territory on April 15, 2020, Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) had said Cabinet agreed to instruct the Financial Secretary to lead technical discussions with the UK Government’s financial technical team in petitioning the Secretary of State to relieve the Government of the Virgin Islands of its obligations under Section 20 of the Protocols for Effective Financial Management and the review and amendment of Sections 25, 27 and 28.

This, Hon Fahie had said, is to, “enable the BVI Government to secure the funding necessary to respond to catastrophic events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in light of 1. The real impacts and economic forecast outlook for the BVI due to the catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic, 2. The unavailability of grant funding from the UK Government and 3. The impediment the conditions of the Protocols for Effective Financial Management pose to the BVI Government being able to finance immediate relief and economic stimulation programmes on its own.”


'VI needs substantive decision' - Skelton-Cline

"We don't need appeasing, we need substantive decisions to be had regarding how we are going to move forward, given the economic shifting and the impact that this pandemic, that the hurricanes, have had on us as a country and as a people," Mr Skelton-Cline said.

He called for concrete answers regarding the VI's request for financial assistance and promised to keep pounding the drums until a substantive answer is given.

"We need money, we need to be free from the hindrances...given these acts of God, natural disasters, pandemic... so that our country can develop. We cannot be at the mercy of the UK when they themselves are fighting for their lives and yet will want to dictate how we move."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×