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written to you expressing strong opposition to the
abolition of the death penalty and seeking an assurance
that we would not legislate against local wishes. He
encouraged his Caribbean colleagues in other DTS to take
similar action. His letter tells us nothing we did not
know. Meanwhile, the fate of the man condemned on
Anguilla and sentenced to hang remains to be decided.
4. Proceeding by Order in Council would remove all
ambiguity and the constitutional proprieties would be respected. The Chief Whip is content for us to proceed
in this way and so is the Home Secretary. However, in
the light of Lord Waddington's strong views on the
substance you may wish to discuss the merits of this
course with a small group of colleagues before
circulating a paper to OPD.
Parliamentary Statement
5.
Although it is opposed by the Law Officers you
will wish to be aware of what I had in mind in
considering whether to accept their advice. The second
option, a parliamentary statement, would be far less.
tidy, but nevertheless attractive. The statement would
be a version of Lord Waddington's preference for muddling
through. By an inspired (written) Parliamentary
Question, you could set out our policy following the CJB
debate: in this way, the House, Chief Ministers and
Governors would be left in no doubt of HMG's views.
Governors would be expected to be guided accordingly.
This approach would effectively overturn much of the
Creech-Jones doctrine (announced in a Parliamentary
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