Britain cannot keep giving Overseas Territories an ?ever-increasing degree of autonomy? or London will not be able to meet its international obligations, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said yesterday.

Speaking at the end of the Overseas Territories Consultative Council (OTCC) meeting in London, Mr. Straw said the boundaries between internal and external responsibilities had blurred because the world was becoming more interconnected.

Britain would continue to partner Overseas Territories which wanted to keep the link to the UK, but a balance had to be struck between greater autonomy and adherence to international obligations.

?We all want a balanced relationship, with Britain guaranteeing security and defence to the territories on the one hand; and on the other, the territories developing further as well-governed small island economies where the rule of law and internationally accepted standards are observed,? Mr. Straw told the delegates, including Premier Alex Scott.

?Many think our partnership is split into external affairs handled by the UK and internal affairs by the territories.

?But the world today is so interconnected that the boundary between internal and external issues is more and more difficult to draw.

?For as long as the territories want, the UK will maintain our firm commitment to our partnership and the obligations that go with it.

?But equally, we cannot offer an ever-increasing autonomy which would prevent us from meeting these obligations and from protecting our liabilities and responsibilities. Delivering on our strong commitment to protecting and helping the territories is only possible if we get the balance right.

?Britain had to ensure there was sound financial management and borrowing ? although this does not apply to Bermuda because the Island does not receive financial aid from the UK.

?The role of governors is at the heart of this. They both protect the British Government?s obligations in the territories, and serve as their territory?s advocate to London.

?I welcome the good relationships governors have with you and I?m delighted that they were able to take part in this week?s meetings.

?Last week the Foreign Office published a strategy setting out the government?s eight foreign policy priorities for the next five to ten years. One of these priorities is the security and good governance of the UK?s Overseas Territories.

?We set out in the strategy how we aim to promote quality of life and long-term development in the Overseas Territories. And we also said we would expect the territories to observe high standards of probity, law and order and good government, and to observe international commitments to which they are bound by virtue of their relationship with the UK. We have an ambitious agenda for taking our relationship forward. Delivering it will mean the Foreign Office working more closely across the whole of government. And it will mean continuing to work in partnership with all of you.?

According to a Bermuda Government Press release, Overseas Territories Minister Bill Rammell accepted the territories did not want to see an enhanced role for governors, but ?it was necessary for them to intrude in areas which impacted them.

?He (Mr. Rammell) accepted that not enough consultation had taken place in the past, and he undertook to remedy this in the future, particularly in the relation to international treaties and conventions where overseas territories had been excluded from the consultative process.?

The other territories represented at the three day meeting were Anguilla, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cyprus Sovereign Base Areas, Falkland islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St. Helena and Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and Turks and Caicos.