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TDSR 11C
including the pending legislation, when giving advice to The Queen for the operation of the Prerogative of Mercy,
ie.
abandon the Creech-Jones doctrine. Alternatively the Motion (which would probably have to come from the back benches) could specifically call on the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, pending legislation, to abandon "Creech-Jones" in this way. This would ensure that in every capital case for which no reprieve is granted locally, it would be referred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and give him the freedom to come to his own decision on each individual case, taking into account all the relevant circumstances but without binding him in any way on the advice that he will offer The Queen. It would certainly then be easier for the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary to advise The Queen to exercise the prerogative of mercy because the advice would be set in the context of Parliament's desire to see legislation in due course. The objection to this course is that the propriety of acting in practice on an assumption of legislation, when it is apparent that legislation will hardly be possible in the life-time of the present Parliament, might be called in question.
7. Another way would be to table a simple motion calling on the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary to abandon the Creech-Jones doctrine and to take account of all the relevant circumstances (as in para 6 above) in offering advice to The Queen on the exercise of the prerogative of mercy. This could be a Government Motion, because it is a matter concerning the population of the overseas dependencies for which the Government has a more direct responsibility; and because the Creech-Jones doctrine was a Government measure and it would be more appropriate for the Government to move to change it. However the effect of this type of motion would be weaker than one which contained a reference to legislation. It could also be deemed improper to use the Royal Prerogative of Mercy in each and every case in the Dependent Territories as a means of abolishing the death penalty in the territories. In advising The Queen
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