CONFIDENTIAL
St Kitts Nevis and Anguilla
5.
(See also separate brief for Mr Rowlands, copy attached) We think we must face out Mr Bradshaw who is unlikely ever to agree publicly that Anguilla should leave the Associated State. We may therefore need to pass special legislation establishing Anguilla as a separate Crown Colony and thus allowing St Kitts Nevis to proceed to independence in their own time.
Dependencies (not Belize)
6. Of our five island dependencies, Montserrat, Cayman Islands, Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos have all recently stated that they do not wish to become independent. The BVI are not so certain what their future might be but there is unlikely to be any change for some five years. Meanwhile, these territories all seek further measures of internal self government. We would normally welcome this as a step along the orthodox path towards independence which is well charted with our experience of decolonisation over the last 30 years. However, with territories which are unwilling to take the final step there is a danger that we may surrender the statutory powers and working conventions of metropolitan authority that will render the islands ungovernable. We do not intend to extend the Associated States model under which we retain responsibility without power. We may therefore have to resist pressure for constitutional advance from small islands which are clearly determined to remain dependent. What does the State Department think? We mentioned this dilemma in discussions this month with the UN Visiting Mission to the Cayman Islands. We sensed that they were sympathetic (although their report may for wider UN reasons still recommend early independence). See separate brief.
(1976
Defence is another problem for us. Since the abolition (1976) of the command of the Senior Naval Officer West Indies we have had no resident naval force in the Caribbean. If law and order broke down (Grand Turk in 1975, Anguilla last February) we could take no immediate local action (to fly out reinforcements from Britain is the last thing we wish to do). How does the US Government see this problem? Can they help in any way in main- taining internal security in the small islands? (It might be suitable to mention en passant their defence facilities in Antigua and the Turks and Caicos, as an example of their existing involvement in the region).
Micro States and closer association
8. The Associated States are poor and small but, except for St Kitts Nevis, they have larger populations than Seychelles, now a full member of the UN. They may find that the cold waters of independence encourage them to seek some form of closer
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CONFIDENTIAL
/association
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