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affairs, but have also sought to avoid the situation in which we are

left with responsibility for a dependency's affairs without the power to control them. In practice our role has tended to be limited

to one of response to initiatives by the territories themselves or by third parties; we have sought to minimise embarrassment to the

UK - in effect to keep the Dependent Territories out of the headlines. It would be timely now formally to define our policy objectives for each Dependent Territory, both on constitutional development and on aid, taking into account the practical constraints referred to in paragraphs 5b and 7 above, the interests and wishes of the inhabitants

of the territories themselves, and of course the interests of the UK.

Interests of the UK

9. Although the cost of our aid, and certain defence costs, can be

identified, the total burden to the UK of retaining the territories

as dependencies is unquantifiable: much of it is political. Indeed a review carried out by officials in 1973 demonstrated that the extra costs of aid and defence associated with continued dependency are comparatively insignificant, at least in the short to medium term, and would in any case never be the determining factor in policy decisions on the political future of any territory. On the other hand, in the case of a few territories there are compensating benefits to the UK of continuing dependence, notably in the fields of defence, communications, resources and scientific research, and other benefits

such as those obtained from the US as a quid pro quo for access to

facilities in the Dependent Territories. With the exception of the

territories listed in paragraph 5a above, however, it is generally

in our interests to relinquish responsibility for our remaining

dependencies rather than to retain it. This conclusion is consistent

with trends of political evolution and expectation fostered in the

territories themselves by the last century of British colonial

administration, and with the anti-colonialist attitudes of most

members of the United Nations. But our own interests in "accelerated

de colonisation" may not always coincide with those of the dependent

peoples.

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