10 November 2021
The 2019 constitutional talks in Anguilla represented a collegiate and productive week of
discussions, where agreement was reached on the vast majority of the draft prepared in
Anguilla. The Anguillian team included representatives from across the political spectrum,
church leaders, the legal profession and others. A record of the talks was prepared, a
revised draft constitution was published and a joint statement was agreed by all of the
participants.
The talks included debate on the issue of same-sex marriage and civil partnerships, with
members of the Anguillian delegation expressing views on both sides of this debate. The
UK Government is committed to equal rights, including LGBT + rights. European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) obligations recognise the need for legal recognition
and protection of same-sex relationships more broadly but do not, yet, require same-sex
marriage. The UK delegation was on the record during the talks stating that it would prefer
that the Constitution should not discriminate and should include a right for Anguillans to
marry, but that the terms of marriage should be defined in Anguillian legislation passed by
the House of Assembly, as is the case now. The UK proposals on the right to marry in the
Constitution would not therefore require same-sex marriage in Anguilla.
It has recently been alleged that the UK delegation lied or misled the Anguillian delegation
on this issue – this is categorically not the case. The official record of the constitutional
talks clearly notes:
“On same sex marriage – the UK is not going to insist on inclusion of a
provision on right to marry for same sex couples, as this is not currently
required by international law. Other OT constitutions included provisions
for right to marry, but it was left to local law to determine what this looked
like in practice. However, consideration can be given to the BVI wording,
which the UK used for its proposal”.
The UK delegation looks forward to returning to Anguilla in due course to continue the
constitutional reform talks.
Adam Pile
Deputy Director, FCDO
