In this week’s press conference, held on Tuesday March 20th, the Hon. Chief Minister, Mr. Victor Banks, reported that he had received a letter from Lord Ahmad, Minister of Overseas Territories, to which he made a prompt reply. These letters took up most of the time allotted for the press conference, and so both of are presented elsewhere in this edition.
However, Chief Minister Banks made some introductory remarks by stating: “In the last press conference we addressed the fact that a number of persons were reacting to a letter that I would have received from Mr. Ben Merrick, who is the Director of Overseas Territories in the UK. Mr. Merrick pointed out in that letter what was required of the Government of Anguilla to trigger the grant funding of £60,000,000 that was allocated to us by the Right Hon. Theresa May in her meeting with us in the UK last year.
“There was a follow-up meeting, to that initial meeting, which assured us that we would be receiving an allocation unlike any other and unprecedented for us as a territory. This was something far in advance of what the other territories would have received. Of course, this grant funding, to be received, is of a considerable amount — for which we are grateful to the British Government and the British taxpayers.
“It is obvious that when these grants are given, the UK government would want to ensure accountability and transparency. This is what we would like to ensure for ourselves as a government as well. And so, there will always be negotiations on how this could be achieved, as well as negotiations on the conditions put forward to acquire such grants.
“Over the weekend, my attention was drawn to a ‘fake-news’ item that was circulated over Anguilla via social media. I was surprised as to the complexity of it because it gave specific details of what tax measures are in place. I would like the public to understand that any news about taxes and tax measures that have been implemented will naturally come through Executive Council and, certainly, one would want an indication from the government itself that these taxes are in place.
“Our people need not to be outraged by these kinds of reports, especially on social media. If you don’t see it in The Anguillian or The Daily Herald, or if it does not come over Radio Anguilla or other credible news sources, then it is not true.”
The Chief Minister then proceeded to read the aforementioned letter from Lord Ahmad and his response.
