Politics of the British Virgin Islands

Politics of the British Virgin Islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby the Premier is the head of government, and of a multi-party system.

The Premier (formerly Chief Minister) is appointed by the Governor from among the members of the Legislative Council, and is by parliamentary convention the leader of the party holding the largest number of seats.

The Cabinet (formerly named the Executive Council) is appointed by the Governor upon the advice of the Premier from amongst the elected members of the House of Assembly.

The proposals were strongly opposed by Lavity Stoutt, the Chief Minister of the day; he arranged for the entire Territory to be polled to ascertain how the voters felt about new rules being "foisted" upon them by the FCO in London,[nb 1] and then later flew to London with an entire delegation (including the Attorney General) to try to dissuade them.

Most parties campaign on a concepts with close affinity to nationalism, and core competency in relation to administration of Government.

Notable politicians who have switched parties include: The British Virgin Islands is a member state of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

By convention, judges on the Eastern Caribbean are always appointed to sit outside of the jurisdiction they are from to minimise the possibility of political interference with the judiciary.