8 July 2016 | Comments
EU & the OTs
The EU Referendum on 23 June 2016 delivered a clear vote for the United Kingdom to leave the EU by a margin of 52% to 48%.
The Prime Minister has stated that ‘the will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered’. He reassured British people living in the EU, and European citizens in the UK, that there would be no immediate changes to their circumstances, and that there would be no initial change to the way people can travel, in the way goods can move or the way services can be sold.
The Government is clear that the referendum result does not change the UK Government’s position on sovereignty over the Territories or its constitutional relationship with them.
In preparing for the process to exit the EU, the UK Government will fully involve the devolved administrations, Gibraltar, the Crown Dependencies, the UK Overseas Territories and all other regional centres of power, in accordance with their various constitutional relationships with the UK – to ensure that all of their interests are taken properly into account.
The UK Government, led by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, is already engaged with the Overseas Territories to capture the full range of issues and interests they have in the EU, including through the EU’s Overseas Association Decision and within OCTA (the Association of the Overseas Countries & Territories of the EU).
The Prime Minister has also made clear that while the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU funding arrangements continue unchanged. Until the conclusion of the exit negotiations, the UK remains a member of the EU with the full range of rights and obligations afforded under its Treaties.
The Prime Minister has said that it will be for the next Prime Minister to begin negotiations with the European Union, including the decision about when to trigger Article 50 to start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU.
SHG
8 July 2016
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