Constitutional Proposals

HC Deb 20 October 1954 vol 531 cc1187-8

31. Mr. Wyatt

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will make a statement on the progress made towards implementing the proposed new constitution for Cyprus.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

The constitutional proposals outlined by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Colonial Affairs on 28th July need close examination on many points of substance and detail before they can be put into final form. The Governor is considering these points, and I await his recommendations.

Mr. Wyatt

Will there be some explanation how self-government can be exercised without self-determination, and, since Cyprus is to be a kind of "Never-Never Land," will there also be some explanation of the constitutional use of the word "never," or are we to take it that the Government's policy towards the use of that word is the same as that of Humpty Dumpty?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

The hon. Gentleman had better await the statement.

Mr. Strachey

Does not the Secretary of State realise that, whoever did or did not use the word "never," the present policy of the Government in regard to Cyprus is making a mockery of the world-wide policy of this country, which is to have a voluntary association of nations within the Commonwealth, and not a compulsory one?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I would find it very difficult to know how the right hon. Gentleman can reconcile that question with the way in which his Government disregarded the plebiscite held in Cyprus during their administration.

Mr. Brooman-White

Does not my right hon. Friend consider that any steps towards constitutional advance must be of benefit to all sections of the community in Cyprus?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

Certainly.

Mr. Driberg

Does not the right hon. Gentleman realise how impossible it is to impose a constitution on a people who are, at the same time, being deprived even of the usual democratic right of discussing their own sovereignty?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I wish the hon. Gentleman had used his time in Cyprus in encouraging people to come in and help to work the constitution rather than some of the things he did