(16941) Dd.897300 250m 9/72 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
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CONFIDENTIAL
5.
the Unofficials vote, this could lead to a worse
crisis.
(c)
I could
Parliament here could be consulted.
make a statement, to be followed by a debate and a
free vote. The advantage of this would be that it
would present the issue to the House in a straight-
forward way and in an atmosphere which would be quite
different from that of a debate after a hanging in
Hong Kong. It is possible that a free vote might
support HMG's wish to back the Governments of
dependent territories.
If on the other hand, as
seems more probable, a free vote did not come out in
favour, then HMG would be a in a much stronger
position vis-a-vis Hong Kong. We would have to
introduce legislation in accordance with the will
of the House to abolish the death penalty, but it
would be clear to the Government and people of Hong
Kong that HMG had argued their case for them and
been defeated. There would be a crisis in relation
to Hong Kong but we would have no option and it
would be much easier for HMG to ride through it.
This line of approach pre- supposes that we want
to persuade Parliament to leave the law as it is, and
I think it would only work if the Whips think that
Parliament would agree. If however, the vote were
in favour of abolition, I think the effect in Hong
Kong would be bad. Their suspicion would be
confirmed that they are subject to the whim of
Parliament, rather than to their own political needs
or even the considered opinion of HMG. The idea
of consulting Parliament could also be made to run
/without....
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