TNAG-0721-FCO40-919-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 87

Registry

No.

Superseded.

DRAFT

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

Secret.

Top Secret.

Confidential.

Restricted.

Unclassified.

PRIVACY MARKING

To:-

Colin Bagnall Esq 10 Lennox Gardens CROYDON

Surrey CRO 4HR

Type 1 +

From

MR STEWART

Telephone No. Ext.

Department

DSR11

........................................In Confidence

CAPITAL PUNSI HMENT IN THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

1. Mr Judd has asked me to write in reply to your letter of 31 January about the steps that are being taken on reconsider our policy towards capital punishment in the Dependent

Territories.

2. As a first step, Ministers considered possible ways of abolishing capital punishment in the seven Territories where it is still retained. There are basically two ways in which this might have been done: through legislation by the Govern- ments of the Territories concerned, and through legislation in the UK Parliament. The problem with the first option is that in those Territories where new laws have to be approved by locally elected legislatures (which includes the majority of the Territories retaining capital punishment) there is no way in which the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary can oblige the local Government to introduce changes to which they are opposed. Even in those few Territories where the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary does retain a theoretical power to order the local Government to make changes in their laws, it would be highly unusual for him to exercise that power. The Governments concerned have been invited on several occasions

to bring their laws on capital punishment into line with those of the UK, but they have consistently declined to do so. In Bermuda for example a proposal to abolish the death penalty was defeated in the House of Assembly in 1975 by 25 votes to

9.

3. The UK Parliament does retain a residual power to legis- late for the Dependent Territories, and it would be possible to abolish capital punishment in these Territories through a Bill introduced in the House of Commons. But there are practical difficulties about proceeding in this way, most notably the problem of making Parliamentary time available for the introduction of the necessary legislation.

As I am

/sure

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