Dear Sir,

I have recently left the Cayman Islands after working there for two years for a government agency. I have followed the local debates about Cayman status, paper Caymanians, independence, immigration and the Human Rights Act with interest.

It is with a degree of amusement that I listen to the whole subject of being Caymanian. Firstly, there is no such thing; Caymanians are actually British Overseas Citizens. Don’t believe me, examine your British passport. Secondly, as a British Overseas Citizen, Caymanians enjoy rights that expats do not have. You get our British passports and a right to settle in the UK for as long as you want. Shame the same courtesy was not extended to expats moving to the Cayman Islands. Thirdly, as a British Overseas Territory, the Cayman Islands will have the Human Rights Acts whether you like it or not, purely from the fact the islands are British. You really have no say on the matter.

Lastly, as far as independence goes, I say the following; Perhaps it is high time the British people in the UK were asked ‘Do we really still want little islands scattered around the world that are neither use nor ornament to the UK?’ I am now firmly of the view that the UK should force islands like the Cayman Islands into independence. With the exception of the Falkland Islands and probably Gibraltar, we really have little in common and Caymanians certainly do not count themselves as British.

The Cayman Islands and other territories like them are on borrowed time. There will come a time when we the British will cut them loose and with discrimination such as rollover, it may come sooner than you all anticipate. Very few British people care or even know about the Cayman Islands. In the meantime, perhaps a spell in the British army to earn your British passports would focus a few minds.

Slade Wallis