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Geoffrey Edge Esq MP
House of Commons
From
Mr Rowlands
Not Seur.
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
Consular
Enclosures:
Copying Action: To (Post):
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David Owen has asked me to reply to your letter of 26 May about the question of capital punishment in the Dependent Territories.
It is true, as we have told Mr Bagnall, that the matter is under review. In fact, it
remains the Government's intention to seek to
find out Parliament's views on this subject. But we have not yet decided when and how it would be best to do this.The question of
whether or not Dependent Territories should be allowed to retain capital punishment is one which raises complex constitutional issues. In most of those territories where it is still
retained, the decision to keep it was taken by
democratically elected local governments.
It will not be easy therefore for us to make
any change that is so evidently contrary to the freely expressed will of the local populations in the territories concerned:
successive British Governments have taken the
view that they should respect the decisions of local governments in what is essentially
an internal matter.
Enclosures
*Report
For "Necessary Action *Information
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Any proposal to change this policy would be bound to provoke some degree of controversy. There is a risk that this would start a debate
on the wider issue of capital punishment in
/...