The Premier was at the time speaking at his Monday, January 23, 2022, one-on-one engagement with the media and updates from his recent trip to UK.

“It’s not just a matter of being persuasive, it’s a matter of showing a real commitment to the partnerships, a real commitment to the partnership… to transparency, accountability, adherence to the rule of law,” Hon Wheatley told the media.

“All of those things make a difference in terms of us making a case and of course, the voice of the people of the VI is of paramount importance in terms of this particular issue,” he added.

VI doing all that it can to remove Order - Dr the Hon Wheatley

Hon Wheatley said while the talks are still ongoing, he is certain that the VI is doing all that it could to have the Order in council removed by the UK.

“I am confident that we are doing all that we can to have it removed, of course ultimately the decision is up to the Foreign Secretary, but we believe that we are engaging in the right way positively and we give them every reason why it should be removed,” he added.

Premier Wheatley had visited London as part of a delegation for high-level talks from 14 – 22 January 2023, where the agenda included financial services, investment, and environmental partnerships as well as meetings with various groups.

Key on his agenda he said, was for talks to commence on the removal of the Order in Council which was put in place by the UK to suspend the VI constitution, should the VI fail to implement reform according to the COI report recommendations.