The Cabinet of the British Virgin Islands (formerly referred to as the Executive Council, or sometimes ExCo) is the collective decision-making body of the British Virgin Islands government. It is composed of the Premier, four other Ministers of Government, and the Attorney General as an ex officio, non-voting, member.[1] The Governor attends and presides over meetings of Cabinet where possible.[2] The Cabinet has responsibility for the formulation of policy, including directing the implementation of such policy, insofar as it relates to every aspect of government, except those matters for which are reserved to the Governor under the Constitution.[3] The Cabinet is collectively responsible to the House of Assembly for such policies and their implementation.
The Cabinet is supported by a Cabinet Secretary, who summons meetings of Cabinet.[4] The agenda of Cabinet is set by the Cabinet Steering Committee, which consists of the Cabinet Secretary, the Governor, and the Premier. Each of the governors and the Premier has the authority to add matters to the Cabinet agenda.[5]
Current members
The following Cabinet was provisionally announced on 25 April 2023 following the general election, but without specifying the exact Ministerial portfolios,[6] but these were confirmed a few days later.[7] This effectively brought an end to the cross-party "unity government" which was put in place following the 2021 Commission of Inquiry.
Along with other political institutions in the British Virgin Islands, the role of the Cabinet or Executive Council has evolved.
The first ever Executive Council was formed on 30 November 1773,[8] and consisted initially of twelve members, all nominated by the Governor (who at this time had regional responsibility for the Territory, but was based in St Kitts).[9] At the same time the first Legislative Council was elected. For a while these organs were successful, but they withered in line with other political institutions during the economic decline of the British Virgin Islands in the 1800s such that by 1867 the Legislature at least was no longer functional.[10] In 1871 a single federal colony was formed for British dominions in the Caribbean but, tellingly, the British Virgin Islands was not represented by a member. The Executive Council was formally abolished in 1902.[11]
When democracy was reintroduced into the British Virgin Islands in 1950 following the 1950 general election there was no Executive Council to accompany the new Legislative Council. However, after the 1957 general election an Executive Council was formed by the Administrator of the British Virgin Islands, two other "Ministers" appointed by the Administrator, and two ex officio members, the Financial Secretary and "Attorney General".[12] Those terms did not exactly exist in their present form at the time: there were no Ministers before 1967, but certain members were appointed with Ministerial type responsibilities. Similarly, there was no formal Attorney General until 1967 either, but Herman A. Besson filled that role under the slightly less grand title of Legal Assistant. The members of the first-ever Executive Council of the British Virgin Islands were: Geoffrey Pole Allesbrook (Administrator), H.R. Penn (Member for Trade and Production), Glanville Fonseca (Member for Works and Communications), Dennis S. Mordecai (Financial Official, ex officio), and Herman A. Besson (Legal Assistant, ex officio).[13]
Over the ensuing years, the composition of the Executive Council gradually morphed, vesting more responsibility in the Legislative Council, and then after the introduction of Ministerial rule in 1967, the Chief Minister. Following the 1967 general election, it would take the form that it would broadly follow for the next 50 years:[14]
Two other Ministers appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister
Two ex officio non-voting members, the Financial Secretary and the Attorney General
In 1979 the number of Ministers was expanded to three, and the Financial Secretary ceased to sit as part of the Executive Council. In 1999 the Cabinet was expanded to the current format of four Ministers. In 2007 the Executive Council was renamed the Cabinet, and in addition to the existing members, a Cabinet Secretary was appointed.
Footnotes
↑ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 47(2)
↑ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 49(1)
↑ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 47(3)
↑ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 48
↑ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 49(4)
†Physiographically, these continental islands are not part of the volcanic Windward Islands arc, although sometimes grouped with them culturally and politically.
#Bermuda is an isolated North Atlanticoceanic island, physiographically not part of the Lucayan Archipelago, Antilles, Caribbean Sea nor North American continental nor South American continental islands. It is grouped with the Northern American region, but occasionally also with the Caribbean region culturally.
His Majesty's Government of the Virgin Islands is the democratically elected government of the British Overseas Territory of the British Virgin Islands. It is regulated by the Constitution of the British Virgin Islands.
Elections in the British Virgin Islands are conducted to elect members to the House of Assembly. In the British Virgin Islands elections are not conducted in relation to appointments to either the Executive or Judicial branches of Government, and there are no other publicly elected posts in the British Virgin Islands. Most elections are conducted as general elections, which under the Constitution are required to be held every four years, or as by-elections when a member of the House of Assembly dies or steps down. Since the re-introduction of democracy into the British Virgin Islands in 1950 there have been fifteen general elections, and three recorded by-elections. The last election was held on 25 February 2019.
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The House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands, until 2007 known as the Legislative Council, has 15 members: 13 directly elected for four-year terms, and two ex officio members.
Politics of the British Virgin Islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby the Premier is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The British Virgin Islands are an internally self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the islands on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories. The Constitution of the Islands was introduced in 1971 and amended in 1979, 1982, 1991, 1994, 2000 and 2007. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the House of Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Military defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 20 February 1995. The result was a victory for the incumbent Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt. The VIP won a plurality of six seats, and thus were able to form a minority government as no other party or coalition could muster a larger number of seats. The BVI United Party (UP) won three seats, and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) won two seats. The two other seats were won by independents. Shortly after the election Alvin Christopher joined the VIP upon being offered a Ministerial seat, giving the VIP an outright majority.
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The Constitution of the British Virgin Islands is a predominantly codified constitution documented primarily within the Virgin Islands Constitution Order, 2007 a statutory instrument of the United Kingdom. The 2007 Constitution was the fourth written constitution of the British Virgin Islands, and superseded the 1976 constitution. In addition to the constitution itself, a number of the constitutional powers of the British Virgin Islands government are specified a "letter of entrustment" from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which delegates powers to the British Virgin Islands government to represent itself in certain external affairs.
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General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 27 November 1950, the first after the decision to restore the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands. Four members were elected to the First Legislative Council.
Conrad Antonio Maduro is a British Virgin Islander politician and longtime leader of the United Party. Remarkably, Conrad Maduro has led his party to victory at three different general elections, but has never been appointed Chief Minister.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 28 November 1963 for seats on the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands.
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Howard Reynold Penn OBE (1903–1994), more commonly known simply as H.R. Penn, was a politician who served during the years immediately after the reintroduction of democracy in the British Virgin Islands in 1950. He was elected as a member of First Legislative Council and continued to serve until his defeat in the 1963 general election.
The Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands is the principal legal adviser to the Government of the British Virgin Islands. Under the Constitution of the British Virgin Islands the Attorney General sits ex officio in both the House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands and in the Cabinet of the British Virgin Islands, but is not permitted to vote in either. The Attorney General also sits on the Committee for the Prerogative of Mercy and on the National Security Council.
Isaac Glanville Fonseca was a British Virgin Islands political figure around the time of the restoration of democracy in 1950. Fonseca was one of the community leaders who participated in the "march of 1949" and later went on to become one of the longest serving legislators in the British Virgin Islands, winning a total of six general elections before retiring from politics.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 25 February 2019. For the first time, four parties with at least one incumbent member were contesting an election.
The British Virgin Islands 2021 Commission of Inquiry was a public inquiry commissioned by the then Governor of the British Virgin Islands, Augustus Jaspert. The terms of reference were to make "a full, faithful and impartial inquiry into whether there was information that corruption, abuse of office or other serious dishonesty in relation to officials, whether statutory, elected or public, may have taken place in recent years; if there were such information, to consider the conditions which allowed such conduct to take place and whether they may still exist; and, if appropriate, to make independent recommendations with a view to improving the standards of governance and the operation of the agencies of law enforcement and justice in the Territory".
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