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Mr Stratton
Parliamentary Unit
MR STANLEY NEWENS'
CONFIDENTIAL
AKG 38671 RECEIVED IN PRAY
12 DEC 1977
No
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1. Mr Newens was the originator of an unsuccessful petition signed by about 20 Tribune Group MPs calling on the Secretary of State to persuade the authorities in Bermuda to grant a reprieve to the two condemned murderers, Burrows and Tacklyn, who were executed on 2 December. The question is slightly misconstrued in that the Creech-Jones formula determines not our 'relations with the government of dependent territories, but the exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy in those dependent territories where it has been delegated to Governors.
2. The Creech-Jones formula has in fact been reviewed several times since the death penalty was abolished in Britain. The last review culminated in the Cabinet decision outlined in
As Mr Foot's letter to the Prime Minister on 19 October 1977. will be seen from paragraph 7 of that letter, Ministers decided that it would be wrong to change the present policy while the case in Bermuda was still unresolved, lest it be thought that the change was being made in order to allow intervention in that case. They also thought that a general change of policy made immediately after the case in Bermuda was settled would be equally wrong since it might look like a response to pressure. They therefore decided to postpone further consideration of any change, while putting it on record that they thought such change
desirable.
3. Mr Newens also raised the question of Creech-Jones in a supplementary following the Secretary of State's statement in the House of Commons yesterday. In his reply, the Secretary of State indicated his willingness to review, not just the Creech-Jones formula but the whole subject of capital punishment in the dependent territories.
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