The leaders of six Overseas Territories have called on the United Kingdom to publish a codified process for constitutional reform and to replace the 2012 White Paper, and have agreed that the Cayman Islands will host next year's Caribbean caucus.

The positions are set out in an outcome statement issued by the Government of Bermuda on 11 September 2026, following the Overseas Territories Caribbean Caucus in Hamilton, which the Government of Bermuda said would run from 8 to 12 September. Bermuda's Premier and Minister of Finance, David Burt, hosted the meeting. Premier André Ebanks MP attended for the Cayman Islands, with Premier Cora Richardson-Hodge of Anguilla, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley of the British Virgin Islands, Premier Reuben Meade of Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands' Deputy Premier, Jamell Robinson.

The statement sets out shared positions the leaders intend to advance collectively ahead of the UK Joint Ministerial Council in November. For the Cayman Islands, it matters on two counts: the call for consistent treatment of beneficial ownership registers across the territories and Crown Dependencies, and the agreement that Cayman will host the caucus in 2027.

What the leaders asked for

On constitutional matters the statement records that leaders "call upon His Majesty's Government to publish a clear, codified process" for constitutional development, and that "a new White Paper is required to replace the existing 2012 White Paper". It states that individual territory compacts should flow from that framework rather than substitute for it, that constitutional advancement granted to one territory should be offered to others, and that leaders reaffirmed the right of self-determination under Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter. Leaders also backed the revival of a collective All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Overseas Territories at Westminster.

The point about compacts answers what the United Kingdom agreed last year. The written ministerial statement laid before the House of Lords on 13 January 2026 (HLWS1237) records that the 13th Joint Ministerial Council, held in London from 24 to 27 November 2025, agreed to develop Partnership Compacts as tailored frameworks between the United Kingdom and individual territories. The Caribbean leaders have now said those compacts must sit inside a general framework rather than replace one.

On financial services, the leaders affirmed the territories’ regulatory credentials and called for consistent treatment of beneficial ownership registers across the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. The UK’s stated objective is publicly accessible registers in both groups of jurisdictions, with legitimate-interest access accepted as an interim step. The caucus statement does not specify whether its call for consistent treatment would ultimately mean fully public registers.

The territories are not in one place on this. Gibraltar, Montserrat and St Helena operate public registers. The Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands operate legitimate interest access registers, which open ownership data to those who can show a defined reason to see it rather than to anyone who asks. The House of Commons Library’s briefing, published on 25 March 2026, recorded plans for legitimate-interest access in Anguilla, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands during 2026, alongside consultations in Jersey and Guernsey. The BVI Government subsequently announced that its system was fully operational on 1 April 2026, allowing eligible applicants to request beneficial ownership information. The same briefing records that the 2023 deadline for public registers across the territories was missed, that the United Kingdom now treats legitimate access as an interim step, and that the power to impose registers by Order in Council under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 has not been used. Among the six participating territories, Montserrat operates a public register, while the others have introduced, or have been developing, legitimate-interest access arrangements.

Leaders also raised two outstanding grievances with the United Kingdom. They said that a climate finance facility promised at the previous Joint Ministerial Council remained outstanding. On pensions, they criticised the absence of annual UK State Pension increases for residents of most Overseas Territories and identified what they called the "anomaly that pensioners resident in a number of independent countries receive uprating while British Overseas Territories Citizens" who contributed equally do not.

What Cayman's government has and has not answered

TCJ put questions to the Office of the Premier on 11 September 2026 on the outcome of the caucus, the Cayman Islands' position for the November council on the United Kingdom's stated expectation of fully public beneficial ownership registers, the state of any Partnership Compact, the improvements to register access Cayman committed to in November 2025, and Cayman's participation in the Ministerial Illicit Finance Dialogue announced in January for the first quarter of 2026.

Angela Piercy, head of communications for the Office of the Premier, replied by e-mail on 11 September 2026, pointing TCJ to the caucus press release and outcome statement and saying that the issues raised were related to constitutional arrangements between the United Kingdom and the territories, which was a key topic at the caucus. On the substance she said that "as we continue to develop a more modern constitutional relationship with the UK, the questions you've asked will be reported on in due course as matters develop". She said further content on the caucus would be posted on gov.ky. The Office did not answer the questions on Cayman's register position, the Partnership Compact, the access improvements or the illicit finance dialogue.

Ms Piercy also said that the Foreign Affairs Committee and the House of Lords Constitution Committee send questions to all the territories from time to time, and that the Cayman Islands Government provided written responses through its London Office on both occasions.

Parliament published written evidence from Premier André Ebanks on behalf of the Cayman Islands Government, reference OTJ0015, on 11 February 2026. The submission was made to the House of Lords Constitution Committee’s review of the UK–Overseas Territories Joint Declaration and addresses constitutional relations, Partnership Compacts and beneficial ownership transparency.

In that evidence, Cayman said it was exploring a bilateral Compact but was not then in formal negotiations with the UK. It also argued that a revised White Paper was needed for 2027/28 and described unresolved differences over beneficial ownership transparency. Ms Piercy’s September reply did not identify the two submissions she referred to or provide an update on the status of Compact negotiations.

The sanctions figure Cayman carries into November

The Financial Reporting Authority's 2025 annual report, published on 24 June 2026, states at page 11 that "as of 31 December 2025, a total of approximately USD $9.50 billion, EUR €230 million, CHF 4 million and GBP £271,000 held by or on behalf of persons designated under the Russia Sanctions regime was reported as being frozen". The joint statement issued by the UK Government on 18 June 2025, after a meeting between Mr Ebanks and Stephen Doughty MP, then Minister of State for the Overseas Territories, gave a single dollar figure and no other currency.

The Authority's director, RJ Berry OBE, pointed TCJ to that report in an e-mail on 11 September 2026 and set out how the figures are compiled. Assets are reported under the Russia (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2020, as amended, by firms that must file a compliance reporting form as soon as practicable once they identify funds or economic resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled by a designated person, and the Governor has delegated to the Authority the function of receiving those reports. The annual report records 158 compliance reporting forms and two reports by designated persons in relation to Russia sanctions during 2025.

The November council and Cayman 2027

The leaders agreed that the Cayman Islands will host their 2027 caucus, a decision confirmed in the Cayman Islands Government’s 11 September announcement.

The next Joint Ministerial Council is scheduled for November 2026. The UK Government had already outlined its approach to a replacement White Paper in a response to the House of Lords Constitution Committee published on 18 June. It said it did not consider publication of a new White Paper in the next parliamentary session necessary at that stage, prioritising a Charter of Engagement and voluntary Partnership Compacts with individual territories instead.

The UK said it remained open to a new White Paper in due course and would keep the option under review. That response predates the Bermuda caucus, whose statement renews the leaders’ demand for an overarching framework from which individual compacts would flow.