Bermuda
CONFIDENTIAL
14. A referendum on Bermuda on 30 August.
capital punishment took place in
This resulted in a 4:1 majority in favour of retention, though the turnout of 33% was low.
Despite this result it is possible that the Bermuda
Government may decide in the light of the Caribbean Orders to introduce legislation of its own. The Cabinet contains abolitionists, the government majority is relatively slender, and the Opposition are committed to abolition.
narrowness of the Parliamentary majority in favour of capital punishment is a strong argument for the Governor not
to implement any execution. But we cannot rely on this. If Bermuda decided not to take action we would be faced with a
choice between relying on the Governor to commute, or introducing primary legislation in the UK.
The
15. The present Governor has commuted in two cases, (and has indicated to me that he intends always to do so). But we cannot be certain that his successor will be prepared to stand up to popular pressure for an execution some time in
the future. In selecting a new Governor, we would stress
the importance of the issue and the attitude of each
candidate could be taken into consideration, but an element of uncertainty would remain.
16. All this argues for a watching brief on Bermuda in the
hope that the Bermuda Government will decide to introduce
its own legislation when it becomes clear that we propose to take action with regard to the Caribbean Dependent Territories. It should not, in any case, be necessary to contemplate legislation in the United Kingdom in this
Parliament.
/Hong Kong
CONFIDENTIAL
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