7865) Dd.145178 400m 5/73 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
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PROPOSED SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES: THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION OF DEPENDENT TERRITORIES
1. In constitutional theory Parliament is considered to be as omni-competent in relation to the affairs of Dependent Territories as within the UK itself, and there is no limit to the Secretary of State's responsibility to Parliament in respect of the Dependencies. If a Select Committee on the Dependent Territories were established it would be important to ensure that this direct line of responsibility should not be blurred. The theory applies even in the case of Dependent Territories with "advanced" constitutions, that is, those in which there is an elected legislature and ministerial responsibility for departments of Government in a Council of Ministers, corresponding in many ways to a Cabinet, in that, in the last resort, the British Government can revoke or amend the constitution. But after responsibilities have been entrusted to local Ministers it would be appropriate for the Secretary of State to refuse to answer in Parliament on matters falling within those responsibilities.
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In practice even territories with less advanced constitutions for practical purposes enjoy a large measure of internal self-government, notably los Kong, the only Dependent Territory which has co legislature with no elected unofficial members. Each Dependent Territory has its own separate and self- contained political system with a potentiality to move on to independence and makes its own laws subject only to a power of disallowance vested in the Secretary of State. Thus the Secretary of state, HM Government and Parliament in the UK do not directly "govern" a Dependent Territory. That is the function of the territorial Government, the authority of which it is important to sustain.
3. The Governor of a Dependent Territory himself, although constitutionally responsible to the Secretary of state, and through him to The queen,
Hr. Government and Parliament in the UK, also has specific responsibilities, in his capacity as love of
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