CONSTITUTION REFORM ON ANGUILLA’S AGENDA

Anguilla is taking another serious look at its constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom. The ruling Anguilla United Front (AUF), which won the local elections in February 2025, empanelled a constitutional review commission last October and is now awaiting a draft report. Premier Cora Richardson-Hodge made the disclosure during a government press conference last week, indicating the issues that it anticipates will inform the ensuing public consultations.

“The draft will be reviewed, and then we’ll proceed to public consultation, and I will keep you updated as things progress,” she stated.

According to Premier Richardson, one of the issues expected in the preliminary discussions before any negotiations with the UK is the separation of roles between the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“In many other countries, you have a DPP office that deals solely with criminal matters, and then you have the Attorney General’s aspect that deals with civil matters. Right now, we deal with both civil and criminal together, and so we want to separate the two,” the Premier explained, adding that this issue was also included in the previous draft for constitutional reform.

The Anguilla Constitution Order, which originally came into force in 1982, was amended in 1990, 2019 and 2020.

PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS

According to Premier Richardson, with several members who sat on previous reviews on the current commission, “So much work had been done before, and that work had been based on not just previous constitutions, but also speaking with the communities in terms of identifying what the communities want Anguillans want to see in the constitution.”

While the government awaits the commission’s draft report, based on which it will put the issues out for public input, the broad matter of ‘greater internal self-government’ is anticipated to be part of the national conversations.

However, Premier Richardson only spoke broadly on that issue, referring to “a broad general framework in terms of putting together a constitution that would have showcased a greater internal self-government.”

Another issue expected to command a lot of attention is that of the sensitive issue of diaspora voting in elections and how that is defined.

Many Anguillans, especially those in neighbouring islands, retain local addresses and remain on the voters’ register. That was one of the hot topics in last year’s general election.

“Whether or not Anguillans who are overseas ought to be able to vote - all of that would be part of a draft. I have not seen it. I have not had any one-on-one conversations in terms of any recent updates, but I anticipate that those are  matters that will come up that will go out to public consultation,” the Premier indicated.