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affairs, but have also sought to avoid the situation in which we are
left with responsibility for a dependency's affairs without the power to control them. In practice our role has tended to be limited
to one of response to initiatives by the territories themselves or by third parties; we have sought to minimise embarrassment to the
UK - in effect to keep the Dependent Territories out of the headlines. It would be timely now formally to define our policy objectives for each Dependent Territory, both on constitutional development and on aid, taking into account the practical constraints referred to in paragraphs 5b and 7 above, the interests and wishes of the inhabitants
of the territories themselves, and of course the interests of the UK.
Interests of the UK
9. Although the cost of our aid, and certain defence costs, can be
identified, the total burden to the UK of retaining the territories
as dependencies is unquantifiable: much of it is political. Indeed a review carried out by officials in 1973 demonstrated that the extra costs of aid and defence associated with continued dependency are comparatively insignificant, at least in the short to medium term, and would in any case never be the determining factor in policy decisions on the political future of any territory. On the other hand, in the case of a few territories there are compensating benefits to the UK of continuing dependence, notably in the fields of defence, communications, resources and scientific research, and other benefits
such as those obtained from the US as a quid pro quo for access to
facilities in the Dependent Territories. With the exception of the
territories listed in paragraph 5a above, however, it is generally
in our interests to relinquish responsibility for our remaining
dependencies rather than to retain it. This conclusion is consistent
with trends of political evolution and expectation fostered in the
territories themselves by the last century of British colonial
administration, and with the anti-colonialist attitudes of most
members of the United Nations. But our own interests in "accelerated
de colonisation" may not always coincide with those of the dependent
peoples.
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