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Home Office and The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP
“From today, [March 5, 2026], Nicaraguan and Saint Lucian nationals will have to apply for a visit visa to travel to the UK.
“Saint Lucians will now need visas due to rising and disproportionately high asylum claims, as well as the threat to border security posed by the country’s Citizenship by Investment programme. This grants citizenship in exchange for a one-off payment of $240,000 to the Saint Lucian government.
“Asylum claims from these two countries also have above average costs for the Home Office, due to higher proportions presenting as destitute.
“There are currently almost 500 Saint Lucians and Nicaraguans receiving Home Office support, which is why urgent action is needed.”
By Caribbean News Global 
LONDON, England – In the 1971 movie “How to Frame a Figg”, the plot centres on corrupt government officials using the incompetent and naive Hollis Figg (played by Don Knotts) as the fall guy for their nefarious activities.
Apparently, the term “Figg” has since become part of the vernacular of intelligence services to describe a gullible individual who has been recruited, usually without his or her knowledge, as a scapegoat or conduit for (dis)information.
Has Dr Ernest Hilaire become a CIP “Figg”?
After various claims of “taken out of context,” and “CIP/CBI incompetency, corruption, mismanagement,” especially when “UK visa ban announcement on St Lucia: In King’s English,” — has — “buffoonery triumphed where brilliance hasn’t.”?
- Will CIP St Lucia validate or deny 11,372 applications – 45,000 passports and new St Lucian citizens?
Has Dr Hiliaire’s attempt to make nonsense of hitherto published amounts to “deliberate buffoonery” forced the UK to reveal them?
Or was it a “terminological inexactitude,” a phrase introduced and popularised in 1906 by another British politician (later prime minister) Winston Churchill, in effect, calling his parliamentary colleagues liars?
In any event, the 800lb gorilla (CIP/CBI) has been neatly packaged and handed back to the very same political party (the SLP) that gave birth to it.
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- The questionable optics of public leadership to CIP in Saint Lucia today represent major setbacks. Kenny D. Anthony, had serious concerns about CIP when it was introduced in 2015 by his own administration in Monaco. ~ CNG editorial, November 23, 2024.
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“From today, [March 5, 2026], Nicaraguan and Saint Lucian nationals will have to apply for a visit visa to travel to the UK.
“Saint Lucians will now need visas due to rising and disproportionately high asylum claims, as well as the threat to border security posed by the country’s Citizenship by Investment programme. This grants citizenship in exchange for a one-off payment of $240,000 to the Saint Lucian government.
“Asylum claims from these two countries also have above average costs for the Home Office, due to higher proportions presenting as destitute.
“There are currently almost 500 Saint Lucians and Nicaraguans receiving Home Office support, which is why urgent action is needed.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, said:
“ I will not tolerate systematic abuse of Britain’s generosity by people granted the privilege of visa-free entry. From imposing visa requirements to shutting down visas entirely, I will do whatever it takes to restore order and control to our border.”
“The tougher controls are estimated to have prevented more than 6,000 people claiming asylum and over £370 million in associated costs since July 2024. The millions saved can instead be spent on strengthening border security and speeding up returns.”
Doug Chalmers, chair, spoke at the Institute for government’s event ‘What next for standards in public life?‘ marking the 30th anniversary of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said:
“There is no doubt that our public life is more transparent than it was. But there is also no doubt that standards matter (s) still concern the public. There is no room for complacency. And while sunlight may be the ‘best disinfectant’ we now know that transparency alone does not simply translate into greater public trust. Just following the rules doesn’t build trust, context is needed as well.”
“To some degree, public cynicism is a healthy thing, but in an age of social media echo chambers and soundbite viral clips, finding something positive to say about standards might sound radical or misconceived. But I believe that there is a positive story to tell,” Charmers continued, […].
“Honesty, openness, objectivity, selflessness, integrity, accountability, and leadership are the principles expected of all those in public life. They underlie codes of conduct, they are on lanyards and fridge magnets and noticeboards across the public sector – reminding those who work there to keep to the values that the public expects. They are regularly used in media interviews to ask politicians to justify decisions, they are quoted in complaint letters and feature in editorials critical of the conduct of public officials.”
Excerpts per the Government of St Lucia transcript, reads:
“ … Further, I support fully the close working relationship which existed in ensuring that our citizenship by investment program possess no threat to the national security of our international partners. But Mr Speaker, respect for that sovereign right does not mean silence when the manner in which a decision is taken causes real concern, real disappointment and real damage to the spirit in which our relationship has been managed and that is the issue before us today.
“The action taken by the United Kingdom government has been widely and wrongly interpreted as a judgment on St Lucia’s citizenship by investment program. The wording used by the UK Home Office in its statement speaks of the number of St Lucians who have applied for asylum or are working illegally in the United Kingdom.
“It does not differentiate between who were natural-born citizens or CIP citizens. The explanatory note outlines the significant growth in our CIP. It ends by saying that the spike in claims for asylum coincides with that increase. Mr Speaker, I can understand why some would believe that the two are link that it is the CIP that is causing the increase in asylum seekers and illegal workers.
“Some would genuinely establish that causal link, and others word out of political malice accentuate the words of the home office who serve their political purpose. Mr Speaker, I say to this honorable house that it is wrong to leave the impression that St Lucia’s CIP is responsible for this problem when to date the data needed to establish that claim has not been shared with us. On the contrary, we have been assured that the CIP is not the driver of the decision taken by the United Kingdom.”
Excerpts per the Government of St Lucia transcript continues:
[ … ] “St Lucia has been consistent. We have asked repeatedly for the relevant information on any concern with the CIP. We have said if there are CIP citizens using solution passports to claim asylum or to work illegally in United Kingdom, then share the data with us. Tell us how many. Tell us where they are originally from. Tell us who they are. Give us the information necessary to act. That has been our position throughout.
“Mr Speaker, because no responsible government can fix a problem that is not properly placed before it. No responsible government can be expected to respond with precision while not having access to the information required to do so.
“We have been told repeatedly that such data cannot be shared. And so the obvious question remains, how is it any government expected to respond effectively to any abuse if the evidence is not available to address it? And again, I want to make that point. There’s no evidence to suggest that our CIP is responsible for any increase in persons seeking asylum or working illegally in the United Kingdom. There is no such evidence.
“Mr Speaker, it has happened before that having identified a potential area of concern, we have acted. When we became aware that action taken elsewhere in the region against certain applicants may have been linked to part of that problem, we move immediately and bad applications from these nationals. That is what responsible government looks like. It does not grandstand on social media or talk shows. It does not gossip. It does not speculate. It acts.
“It is therefore especially bewildering that this visa action has been taken at a time and been used by the opposition when we are in fact involved in active engagement on various aspects of the CIP and meetings are being planned with our international partners to discuss what more can be done to halt any abuse of the visa-free system.”
“I would have thought that if the CIP citizens were the problem, then the visa requirement would have been implemented only for persons who acquired citizenship through the CIP.
“CIP is not some political gimmick. It is not a vanity project. It is not and has never been an end in itself. It is a developmental tool.
“When you attack this program irresponsibly, you are not attacking a line item on paper. You are attacking a source of opportunity for the people of St Lucia. You are attacking a means of financing growth in this country. You are attacking a tool that has helped us build a richer, stronger, prouder, and more resilient country.”
“… This government will continue to defend St Lucia’s interests nationally and internationally.
“We will continue to engage international partners seriously and responsibly.
“We will continue to strengthen and improve the citizenship by investment program.
“We will continue to insist on fairness facts and proper cooperation.
“We will continue to use every legitimate tool available to build roads, expand healthcare, improve water infrastructure, create jobs, raise incomes and widen opportunity for the people of this country. That is our duty. That is our focus.”
Amused and saddened
“So, what’s this Brouhaha about the UK’s visa decision? said Andrew Antoine,” Facebook post:
… “And suddenly, a brouhaha erupts in Saint Lucia over the UK’s decision! I am both amused and saddened by some of the comments I see on FB regarding this issue,” concluding: “So, please, let’s keep our drawers on and stop those shrill, uninformed screams!”
A CNG request for comment to Antoine’s FB post said: “… and they think they can fool all the people all the time.”
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