How Anguilla governs itself under a governor from London

Who holds power under Anguilla's constitution

Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory with internal self-government. Its constitution is the Anguilla Constitution Order 1982, made by the British Crown in Council as statutory instrument 334 of that year and amended since, with amending orders recorded in 1990, 2019 and 2020. It came into operation on 1 April 1982, revoking the constitution of 1976, a little over a year after Anguilla was formally separated from St Kitts and Nevis.

The order does two things at once. It gives Anguilla an elected legislature and a government answerable to it, and it keeps a set of powers with a governor, appointed by the British government to represent the monarch. The Crown also reserved to itself the power to make laws for Anguilla through its Privy Council. The reservation is written into the order itself, ahead of the constitution the order sets out.

The United Nations Committee on Decolonization lists Anguilla among the non-self-governing territories. Defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom, which keeps no garrison or armed force on the island.

The arrangement is the one Anguillians asked for. The revolution of 1967 and the referendums that followed were aimed at being governed from London instead of from Basseterre, and the constitution of 1982 is the end point of that demand. The history article, how Anguilla left St Kitts, tells how it was reached.

What the governor keeps for London

The House of Assembly's own account of the constitution lists what the governor oversees: external affairs, defence, internal security and certain financial matters. The governor must also give assent before any bill becomes law. The 1982 text is more detailed. It releases the governor from any duty to consult the Executive Council, or to follow its advice, on any matter that in the governor's opinion relates to defence or external affairs, and on internal security, "including the police".

The same exemption covers the public service: the appointment, promotion, discipline, dismissal and pay of public officers are the governor's business. So are matters the governor judges too unimportant for the council, matters too urgent to wait for it, and any case in which "the service of Her Majesty would sustain material prejudice". The text adds duties in return. The governor must keep the council informed of anything touching Anguilla's economic or financial interests and consult the head of government on internal security.

Even where the governor is bound to consult, the 1982 order allows the governor to act against the council's advice when following it would be "inexpedient in the interests of public order or public faith", provided a Secretary of State in London approves first. Any council member may then have the grounds of their own advice written into the minutes, and a copy goes to London.

The 1982 order also set up the Executive Council, the cabinet, with the governor presiding at its meetings. It consisted of the head of government, then called the Chief Minister, no more than three other ministers, and two officials, the Attorney-General and the Permanent Secretary for Finance. The governor appointed as head of government the elected member most likely, in the governor's judgment, to command a majority, and appointed the other ministers on that person's advice. Only the governor could summon the council, though two elected members could require a meeting in writing. Today the head of government is styled Premier.

The governor is supported by a deputy governor, who, like the attorney general, sits in the House of Assembly as an ex officio member.

How the House of Assembly is made up

The House of Assembly is a single chamber in The Valley, established in 1976. It usually sits on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. It has 13 members. Eleven are elected, and the deputy governor and the attorney general sit ex officio. A Speaker presides, impartial in debate, and represents the House at home and abroad. The Speaker is supported by a Deputy Speaker. Committee work runs through an Administration Committee and a Public Accounts Committee.

How seats are elected across the island

Seven members represent single-seat electoral districts and four are elected by the whole island. The first seven electoral districts were created by the Anguilla Council Elections Ordinance of 1972: Island Harbour, Sandy Hill, Valley North, Valley South, Road North, Road South and West End. That ordinance also fixed the voting age at 18, and the first elections under it were held on 24 July 1972. The House is elected for five years.

The voting method is older still. When a limited franchise came back to the presidency of St Kitts-Nevis in 1936, the constitution of that year adopted first past the post, under which a candidate wins with a simple majority and not an absolute one. Each island was one constituency then, and Anguilla returned one member.

Anguilla has a multi-party system. The leader of the party that wins an election becomes Premier and appoints ministers from the members of the majority to run areas such as finance and health. Members who do not form the government make up the Opposition, whose role the House describes as scrutinising the government's decisions and policies.

What the ex officio members do

The attorney general gives legal guidance to the House and, under the 1982 text, holds the power to institute criminal proceedings and to take over or discontinue those brought by others. The deputy governor supports the governor in official duties. In the 1982 order the second ex officio seat went to the Permanent Secretary for Finance, and the House then also had two members nominated by the governor, one on the advice of the head of government and one after consulting him.

How a bill becomes law in Anguilla

Under the constitution the governor makes laws for Anguilla "with the advice and consent of the Assembly". A bill passes through several readings and debates, members may amend it, and it needs a majority of members before it goes to the governor. The governor then either assents or reserves the bill for the Crown's decision through a Secretary of State, and may return it to the House with recommended amendments. The 1982 text requires a bill to be reserved if it appears inconsistent with the constitution or touches the privileges and powers of the House, unless London authorises assent.

Assent is not the last word. Under the 1982 text any law the governor has signed may be disallowed by the Crown through a Secretary of State, and it is annulled from the date the disallowance is published in the Official Gazette. The same text gives the governor a reserved legislative power: where the governor considers a bill or motion expedient in the interests of public order or public faith, and the House fails to pass it, the governor may declare it passed.

The House regulates its own procedure, but its rules take effect only once the governor approves them in writing. The Standing Orders were rewritten in 2021 for the first time since 1976, and the House adopted a code of conduct and a register of members' interests with the help of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

The phrase "with the advice and consent of the Assembly" was new in 1976. Under the Anguilla Act 1971 and the administration order of that year, real legislative power had rested with a British commissioner, and the first law made by a legislature of Anguilla's own was passed on 13 May 1976. Before 1825 the island had no legally constituted legislature at all; its settlers' council governed without any authority from the Crown.

Who may stand for the House of Assembly

The 1982 order ties candidacy to the island. A candidate had to be a Commonwealth citizen of at least 21, registered as a voter in an Anguillan district, and either born in Anguilla and domiciled there, or domiciled there after at least three years' residence before nomination, with at least one parent born in Anguilla. The nominated members had to be persons who "belong to Anguilla" in the constitution's sense.

Voting was widened in stages that Anguilla shared with St Kitts and Nevis. The 1936 franchise required property worth at least £100, rent of at least £12 a year or direct taxes of at least 15 shillings, and a council seat needed an income of £200 a year or property worth £500. Full adult suffrage from the age of 21 came in 1952, with the first elections held on 6 October 1952, and the 1972 ordinance lowered the age to 18 for Anguilla's own council.

Which courts hear Anguilla's cases

The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Cases start in the Magistrates' Court and the Juvenile Court. Above them is the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, whose High Court sits in Anguilla and whose Court of Appeal hears appeals from it. The final court of appeal is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.

How London shapes Anguilla's budget

The budget is Anguilla's own, presented by the government to the House of Assembly each year, but borrowing is not unrestricted. On top of the debt target of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, the United Kingdom imposes three ratios under a Framework for Fiscal Sustainability and Development. According to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, net debt may not exceed 80% of recurrent revenue, debt service may not exceed 10% of it, and liquid assets must cover at least 25% or 90 days of recurrent expenditure.

The central bank's review of December 2025 traces how far the island was from those limits. Net debt stood at 165.4% of recurrent revenue in 2021 and was estimated at below zero in 2025; debt service fell from 18.5% of recurrent revenue in 2021 to an estimated 9.2% in 2025. The bank expected Anguilla to be in full compliance with all three ratios by the end of 2025. The economy article, what Anguilla earns, explains where the money came from.

The United Kingdom has also paid when disaster struck. After Hurricane Irma in September 2017 it gave Anguilla £60 million over five years towards the repairs, according to the BBC, and in 2025 the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it welcomed Anguilla's efforts to "contribute to Anguilla's financial self-sufficiency".

Where Anguilla stands in regional bodies

As a territory Anguilla does not hold full membership of most international organisations. It is an associate member of the Caribbean Community and of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, an associate member of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and a member of the Caribbean Development Bank. Interpol works with it through a sub-bureau. It belongs to the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union and uses the East Caribbean dollar, issued by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, whose headquarters are in Basseterre, the St Kitts capital from which Anguilla broke away in 1967.

Protection at sea comes from the Royal Navy. Since 2020 it has often kept a River-class offshore patrol vessel deployed in the Caribbean for patrol and sovereignty duties, and in October 2023 the destroyer HMS Dauntless visited Anguilla to help the local authorities prepare for the height of the hurricane season.