ANGUILLA (Hansard, 2 June 1967)

§ The Minister of State for Commonwealth Affairs (Mrs. Judith Hart)
None, Sir.

§ Mr. Wood
Can the hon. Lady tell us what is the situation in the island at the moment Can she confirm that under associated status the United Kingdom retains responsibility for its external affairs, but that the Government of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla are responsible for internal security in the island? Can she say what she said to the Premier of St. Kitts, if anything, about the possibilities of British assistance in the event of the discontent in Anguilla breaking into active trouble?

§ Mrs. Hart
To answer the right hon. Gentleman's last point first, we have not said anything on that to Mr. Bradshaw at the moment. The answer to the right hon. Gentleman's second point is, as he expects, that since associated status was granted to St. Kitts the British Government are responsible for external affairs but not for internal security. The responsibility for internal security lies on the Government of St. Kitts.
The first part of the right hon. Gentleman's question, of what is the situation, is extremely difficult for me to answer, because we do not have any reliable facts 434 to know precisely what the position is. It seems to be considerably confused. The facts that we do know, at least on the basis of reports we have had, but without any direct knowledge ourselves, are that the Premier of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla reported that the warden and police have left Anguilla and the radiotelephone link with the island had been cut. Shots are said to have been fired at the hotel at which the warden was staying and at the police station, but no injuries to anybody and no casualties have been reported.
The Premier of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla said that the Prime Ministers of Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica might offer to help in restoring order and what we have done is to ask those Governments what their views are about their offers of assistance, but we have not yet had any replies. One thing I can say quite definitely to the right hon. Gentleman is that we have asked the deputy British Government representative in the area to visit St. Kitts as soon as possible, which will be either today or tomorrow, the British Government representative being in New York at the moment.

§ Mr. Marten
May I help the hon. Lady and tell her that I have just received a telegram from Anguilla? I would have shown it to her before if I had received it in time. It says: The Anguillans are in complete peaceful control of their island and they consider that a referendum is essential and not forceful intervention. I hope that the hon. Lady will listen to those words and that no question of sending troops there will arise.

§ Mrs. Hart
As I have said, we are not responsible for internal security in these islands.
As to the position in Anguilla, what is uncertain at the moment seems to be how far the events of the last two or three days are linked with earlier events or how far a completely different group of people is involved in this. There is complete uncertainty about the whole thing.