Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret,
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT
TERRITORIAL SURVEY
Type 1 +
From
To:-
In Confidence
TERRITORY: ANGUILLA
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
DSR 11
POPULATION: 6000
SPECIAL FACTORS: Anguilla is still nominally part of the Associated State of St Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla although it broke away in 1967 and formed its own Government. HMG subsequently appointed a Commissioner who administers a BVI and Turks and Caicos type constitution, reporting direct to the FCO. The territory should, we hope, be separated from St Kitts/Nevis
in 1979.
PROSPECTS FOR INDEPENDENCE: All Anguilla's political energies have been devoted to seeking complete separation from St Kitts /Nevis. Consequently not much thought has been given to the nature of the territory's constitutional links with the UK following separation.
The present Government and Civil Service (with some beef- ing up) could just about run an independent country. But because of uncertainty over the issue of separation the terri- tory is economically retarded and could only sustain independence either (a) with budgetary support or (b) if the
missing economic infrastructure was provided quickly and to a level where spontaneous private investment (tourism and off- shore services in the manner of the Cayman Islands) brought sufficient revenue to the Exchequer to enable the territory to support itself financially.
POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES TO INDEPENDENCE: Realistically none. There may be scope for examining some form of closer associ- ation with the nearby territory of St Martin/St Maarten, but that would probably not be acceptable to most Anguillans, nor realistic in the context of French and Dutch overseas
structure.
CONFIDENTIAL
/Recommended