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‘All you have done again is splinter the splinter’- Skelton-Cline to ‘Alliance’
New political alliance
The pastor's remarks followed a press conference on January 30, 2025, when three Opposition Members of the House of Assembly announced their newly formed ‘Alliance.’
The group includes one member from the National Democratic Party (NDP)- Hon Myron V. Walwyn (R6)- and two from the Progressive Virgin Islands Movement (PVIM)- Deputy Speaker Hon Stacy R. Mather (AL) and Hon Melvin M. Turnbull (R2)- but the Alliance has not yet formally established itself as a political party.
According to Skelton-Cline; however, "I suspect that it will evolve into a party and knowing some of the players that I know, these are thinking people, strategic persons, so I imagine that they are further along than they are telling us at the moment."
Notably, he interpreted their recent public statement welcoming the NDP and PVIM leaders into the fold as a veiled message, referencing the statement, "...you're welcome to be on the ship, just not in leadership."
Decline of PVIM & NDP
According to Skelton-Cline, the emergence of this Alliance signals the effective demise of PVIM and the continued decline of NDP, adding: "One, I think we are at the point where we can probably announce the funeralisation of the PVIM. It appears that we will have to funeralise the PVIM; The NDP, I would describe them as being on life support," he asserted.
Despite the Alliance’s potential, he warned that if it follows the trend of previous political splintering, it risks repeating past failures cautioning, "All you have done again is splinter the splinter. It’s another splinter from 2019 to a new splinter in 2025, with the same failure consequence in any successive election."
Challenges & internal tensions
Skelton-Cline also reiterated his call for the Leader of the Opposition to join the Virgin Islands Party (VIP), reiterating that he could better serve in a governmental finance role rather than in the Opposition.
"The best use of his skill set… is to join the government in some finance capacity," he suggested, adding that while an upcoming trip to Asia could have been a turning point for collaboration, the Opposition Leader’s absence leaves room for another member to fill that space.
Furthermore, he called for decisive leadership, particularly from the Eighth District representative–Hon Penn—demanding the need for concrete action.
"If I were him, with the Premier, I'd come back with a ring on and about five to seven million dollars by way of the budget allocated for how I’m going to fix the Eighth," he suggested, criticising the lack of visible progress since 2011.
It should be noted that Hon Penn and fellow Opposition member Hon Lorna G. Smith, OBE (AL) have since accepted the invitation of Premier Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) to accompany him on his trade mission to Asia next week.
'Gospel of selfishness & poverty of division'
With the 2027 elections on the horizon, Skelton-Cline sought to again underline the necessity of political cohesion to present a viable alternative to the ruling Virgin Islands Party (VIP), questioning, "How do you expect to win, first of all, to offer yourselves as a credible group of women and men to the people of these Virgin Islands, when you simply continue to splinter the splinters.”
He, as such, warned that if the opposition factions fail to unify, their political aspirations would be doomed: "If you don't do it now… you will not be believable in the eyes and the minds of the people of this country."
According to the social advocate, "The gospel of selfishness and the poverty of division has got to cease for the benefit of this country, it’s got to cease; We are one people, we agree to disagree, (with) different opinions but let's do it in love."
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