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CONFIDENTIAL & PERSONAL

CONFIDENTIAL & PERSONAL

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Sir

THE FUTURE OF THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

London

SW1A 2AL

13 June 1975

1. I have the honour to attach at Annex A a paper written in the joint FCO/ODM Dependent Territories Division, in consul-

tation with all the other interested departments in Whitehall. This paper has now been approved jointly by FCO Ministers and by the Minister of Overseas Development.

Constitutional Policy

2. As the paper explains, it has been the policy of Her Majesty's Government since the end of the Second World War to bring forward the Dependent Territories, wherever possible, by stages to indepen- dence. By 1973 however it had become clear that, for one reason

or another, most of the remaining territories could no longer be expected to follow what we have come to regard as the normal path to independence, since few of them have substantial populations eager for independence or capable of sustaining it unaided. This was the reason why it was felt timely at this stage to review our policy on the future of the Dependent Territories and that was the purpose of the paper.

3. Dependent status is now an anachronism, and our policy of devolving power is irreversible. Even when we retain sovereignty, the continuing process of devolution to local governments tends to leave us with responsibility without the effective control

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CONFIDENTIAL & PERSONAL