TNAG-0543-FCO40-638-Strength-of-garrison-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 167

VUNITVENTIL

8.

(c) By Order in Council.

This procedure would not require

reference to Hong Kong and would thus not involve Unofficial

Members who could dissociate themselves from it. There

is no Parliamentary procedure involved in the making of

such an order, but once it became known that such an

order had been made a Member of Parliament might ask

a question about it or try to initiate a debate.

There have been no recent precedents for any of the above courses of action. We believe that the last time the Governor acted against the Legislative Council's advice was in 1946 on a taxation issue and even then he did not have to use his official majority in the legislative Council for several unofficial members changed sides in midstream. However, the circumstances existing in the Colony in 1946 were so different from those of today that this can hardly be considered a

precedent.

9. Any attempt to impose the United Kingdom's view, particularly on such an unpopular issue as that of the defence contribution, could risk the resignation of many if not all of the Unofficial members with

with the consequent disruption of the system of Government and a risk of disorder in the Colony. The Governor could expect little or no

popular support on such an issue and even if a constitutional crisis was avoided his position in the Colony could be seriously eroded.

The Informal Arrangements

10. The Unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative Councils form a coherent (though not constitutionally recognised) body known as UMELCO, which sees itself as the "popular" representative of Hong Kong. interests. The functions of UMELCO are more akin to those of Ministers than back-benchers although the analogy cannot be carried too far. They work very closely with senior officials behind the scenes and in public, both on the preparation of legislation and in a wide field of administrative activity and policy formation. also have an Ombudsman function, having an office to deal with representations from the public.

They

CONFIDENTIAL

/11.

The degree