London - Britain and the remnants of its empire can have a "modernised contract", including citizenship for all who want it, within months if far-flung territories improve their financial performances, the government said yesterday. The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, told senior ministers of most of Britain's last 13 colonial possessions that he was conscious of the "sense of injustice" felt by some of their 160,000 people who do not have the right to live and work in the UK.
He singled out the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena, lobbying hard for the restoration of its lost citizenship rights, and Montserrat, ravaged by volcanic eruptions, for their "fortitude and determination in the face of adversity".
It is understood that any new arrangement is likely to grant citizenship to all territories - the largely white population of Gibraltar and the Falklands already have it - so as not to discriminate against black Caribbeans.