Above: Montserrat Premier Reuben Meade

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Montserrat Premier Reuben Meade has defeated a no-confidence motion filed against him by Opposition Leader Donaldson Romeo by a vote of 7-2.

All members of Meade’s Movement for Change and Prosperity, along with one member of the opposition Montserrat Democratic Party and two parliamentary secretaries voted in favour of the Premier.

Romeo, who filed the motion two weeks ago, had referenced several decisions by Meade’s administration, including a Memorandum of Understanding that it signed with the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and statements made by the Premier in Ecuador that Montserrat should no longer be considered by international organizations as a “colonized country.”

The Opposition Leader had called the statements “misleading” and “without the support of the people of Montserrat.”

Meade said he maintained the right to speak on behalf of Montserrat and used his visit to Ecuador to encourage the UN Committee on Decolonization to use their resources to benefit those countries and islands on the list of colonized countries.

Governor Adrian Davis said in the wake of the statements that the United Kingdom’s government does not have to authorize statements made by the government of Montserrat.