A dereliction of duty

Today we report that, when the Americans rescued fellow citizens on Saint Martin, an island struck by Hurricane Irma, they left some Britons behind. This raises several troubling questions. Why were Britons left stranded on Saint Martin at all, given that Irma was predictable? Why on Earth would the Americans leave Britons behind, given that there was allegedly room to spare in the rescue? And did the UK not ask the United States to look after any British citizens that it should happen to find?

The Caribbean nightmare has exposed some sad truths about modern Britain: we proclaim that we are open to the world and keen to uphold our international commitments, but the response to Irma was appalling slow. The French and Dutch have been far more dynamic; in Florida, the Americans have carried out potentially the largest evacuation in their history. By contrast, some islanders accuse the British of betrayal. Anguillan barrister Josephine Gumbs-Connor said: “We feel like third-class citizens.”

In fact they are passport holders with the same status as the Falklanders, in whose defence Britain went to war in 1982. Britishness is not a wholly geographic concept: there are people across the globe proud to live under our protection. But while the French and Dutch give Saint Martin representation in their parliaments, the UK does not do the same for its overseas territories – and the Government has admitted that this makes a difference. If the islanders were represented by an MP in the Commons, especially at a time when the Conservatives are scraping together a working majority, logic suggests that in future their voice would be heard before it’s too late.