Senior Opposition Member in the Anguilla House of Assembly, Hubert Hughes, who was unable to respond to the Chief Minister’s press conference as it was not held on Tuesday this week, took the opportunity to focus his attention on two matters of his own choosing.

Hon. Hubert Hughes

One was a claim that the British Government was requesting Anguilla to follow reciprocity rules whereby UK nationals could freely live and work in Anguilla similarly to Anguillians taking up residence in England and Europe. The other was his argument that the Anguilla Government should have presented a budget for 2010 in the House of Assembly.

Mr. Hughes stated that during the recent Overseas Territories Consultancy Conference in London, the issue of reciprocity was raised mainly with respect to Anguilla by one of the British officials (a matter the reporters heard for the first time). “It was raised as a result of the news that Anguilla has been importing so many people from other parts of the world to work in Anguilla that when there is high employment in the United Kingdom, people in the UK should have been getting these jobs if the issue of reciprocity was properly implemented,” he reported.

“You have thousands of Chinese, Mexicans, Indians and East Europeans.... coming into Anguilla…because of the big construction boom that has been taking place in Anguilla,” the Opposition Member argued. “In Britain today there is serious unemployment in the construction industry and other fields; so the British is saying that Anguillians can come to Britain and Europe, work, live and enjoy all the benefits, social, and otherwise, as well as housing and allowances, to take care of themselves every week. It is unfair for Anguilla to breach the European Union rules and regulations on the issue of reciprocity and discrimination, because the European rules stipulate that there should be no discrimination, and if Anguilla continues it will be breaking the rules against discrimination…of British people coming to Anguilla and enjoying the same privileges as we enjoy in Britain and in Europe.”

Mr. Hughes told the reporters that when he was Chief Minister of Anguilla he had stressed to British Government officials that “we could only take British citizenship and a British Passport provided it does not take away from us the sole responsibility of determining who should belong to Anguilla.”

He continued: “I said we should continue to remain in charge of our immigration procedures and our tax procedures. This Government [in Anguilla] says there will never be reciprocity and now the British is saying there is reciprocity in accordance with the constitution which we have accepted. There must be reciprocity so this is one of the big issues that will cause us serious conflict with my Government when I take office, hopefully in the New Year. There is going to be a lot of conflict. I see it on the horizon because I have a responsibility and in my manifesto is positive discrimination in favour of the Anguillian people. I have been elected by the Anguillian people, as I always tell the British officials,… and my responsibility is to represent the Anguillian people to the best of my ability.”

The reporters informed Mr. Hughes that this matter regarding reciprocity, as outlined by him, was not discussed with them either at the Chief Minister’s press conference or at the Governor’s press conference. The only matter close to that was reported by the Chief Minister when he said that the leaders of the Overseas Territories were unhappy that they were being excluded from the decision-making process regarding the granting of citizenship by the British Government, through the Governor, to non-belongers who lived in the territories for some years.

Asked who had informed him about that matter, Mr. Hughes replied: “The Government is not going to tell you this. This is one of their secrets.”

On the fiscal situation in Anguilla, Mr. Hughes claimed: “I think, going into the election year, the Government did not want to go in December with a budget which involves the implementation of new taxes. This is especially at a time when the livelihood of our people is so jeopardised by a very high cost of living and no increase in income,… and when the salaries of the civil servants had to be reduced a few months ago. You cannot increase taxes ... at this time and that’s why the Government has not come forward with a budget.”

The Opposition Member contended that the Government had every reason “to have a budget [but] they are saying the new Government must bring in a new budget.” He argued that “as long as there is no obstacle, a budget should be formulated, come to the House of Assembly and passed before the end of the year and implemented at the end of the year.”

Questioned on the mater about whether there was a need for an incoming Government to conform to any budget previously approved in the House, Mr. Hughes replied: “Generally, we do not have to stick to any budget that has been passed, but that doesn’t mean that the Government shouldn’t come forward with their budget. They have a moral and a constitutional obligation to produce a budget, even if we have to make amendments…Their responsibility is being abdicated by not producing a budget. It is not for us that they should do it, but for the people of Anguilla. They have been elected by the people of Anguilla to serve them and they should do their job.”

Mr. Hughes claimed that the planned meeting of the Anguilla House of Assembly on Tuesday this week “was cancelled” because he had “tabled a motion that the budget should be brought to the House of Assembly, debated and passed before the end of the year. They have given the impression that the Chief Minister had to go away but we have had situations where I was Chief Minister of Anguilla and I arranged to have my budget on a particular date.” He was of the view that the Minister of Finance, in his capacity as Acting Chief Minister, could have presented the budget.

Mr. Hughes wrapped up his press conference by saying that his colleague on the Opposition side of the House of Assembly, Edison Baird, was now officially elected Deputy Leader of the Anguilla United Movement and would appear with him at his weekly press conferences in the New Year.

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