REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 7 May 1970)

BARONEES LLEWELYN-DA VIES OF HASTOE
My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Shepherd, I beg to move that this Bill be read a second time. It is a short Bill and I do not think that it will be found to be controversial. it is necessary because The Gambia became a Republic within the Commonwealth on April 24 this year. This followed a referendum which produced the necessary two-thirds majority required under the previous Constitution. The purpose of the Bill is to make the necessary adjustments in our own law and follows the same lines as legislation in parallel cases. It provides that the law of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as it applies to The Gambia, will not be affected by the fact that The Gambia is now a Republic.
The Bill will affect the law of Dependent Territories of the United Kingdom only so far as it affects Acts of the British Parliament extending to them, and Orders in Council applying such Acts. The Bill enables the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to continue to exercise jurisdiction to hear appeals pending at the time of the declaration of a Republic. It also makes it possible for Orders in Council to be made providing for future appeals. The new republican Constitution makes provision for such future appeals as regards the law of The Gambia, and the Orders in Council would bring our law into line.
There is one particularly interesting general point which your Lordships will find here. When my noble friend Lord Shepherd introduced a similar Bill for Guyana, he said that it needed only one more country to become a Republic within the Commonwealth for the republican countries to outnumber the monarchical ones. With this Bill we have now arrived at that situation. But of course the change to a Republic does not reduce 398 the affection which the people of those countries have towards Her Majesty as Head of the Commonwealth; neither does the fact that there is now a majority of republican countries within the Commonwealth indicate any change in the nature of the Commonwealth relationship. Noble Lords will know that all members of the Commonwealth recognise Her Majesty as Head of the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General has asked Commonwealth Governments whether they agree to The Gambia's retaining Commonwealth membership despite the adoption of a republican Constitution, and they have all said that they welcome the continuation of The I Gambia's membership. The First President of the new Republic is the former Prime Minister, Sir Dawda Jawara, who is well known to many Members of your Lordships' House and to those in another place. I am sure that all noble Lords will wish to join me in wishing peace, prosperity and success to the new Republic, to the President and to the people of The Gambia. My Lords, I beg to move.

§ THE EARL OF DUNDEE
My Lords, I am very fortunate in having the duty of following the noble Baroness on two occasions in such a short time on measures concerning the Commonwealth. A week or so ago we had a Bill establishing the independence of Tonga, which the noble Baroness moved. This Bill, of course, does not carry the same significance, because a change in technical status from a Monarchy to a Republic within the Commonwealth does not in any way affect the sovereignty of the nation concerned; neither does it in any way affect the relationship between that country and other members of the Commonwealth, including the United Kingdom. All that needs to be done is to make certain technical legal adjustments which are consequential upon this nominal change of status, particularly in connection with the Privy Council. But that, of course, applies only to those possible references to the Privy Council which happen to be in accordance with the laws of the country concerned, which in this case is The Gambia. Therefore, 399 there is really no further comment which need be made about a Bill of this sort.
I have been to The Gambia twice, once on the way out to China in the middle of the war when one could not go any other way, and then back again. I have delightful memories of my two very short visits, concerned with watching the interesting wild life and at other moments with bathing in the kind waters, as they are there, of the Atlantic. I join with the noble Baroness in extending our good wishes to the Republic of The Gambia as a member of the Commonwealth.

§ LORD MILNER OF LEEDS
My Lords, in supporting this Bill, may I say that it seems to me entirely understandable that this tiny country should have decided to become a Republic within the Commonwealth. Although it might appear that this change from a Monarchy to a Republic is in some sense a further lessening of links with this country, that does not take account of the flexibility of the Commonwealth relationship. I am sure that many of the people of The Gambia, as well as many neighbouring Governments, found it hard to accept that The Gambia was fully independent while it shared a Head of State with its former colonial Power and had a resident Governor-General. Now, as a Republic with its own President, there can be no doubts about its status. I thus suggest we should be fully sympathetic to the change, while welcoming The Gambia's continuing membership of the Commonwealth.
May I also welcome the fact that the new Constitution of The Gambia, and thus this Bill, makes allowance for the continuation of appeals from The Gambia to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council? Such appeals, which continue from many independent Commonwealth countries, are themselves evidence of the strength of the Commonwealth connections and of the close co-operation and mutual understanding that exists in the legal profession among Commonwealth countries. Finally, I am sure we all share my noble friend's expression of good wishes to the President and people of the new Republic.

BARONEES LLEWELYN-DAVIES OF HASTOE
My Lords, it is a very pleasant duty to introduce these Bills; and I am most grateful to the noble Earl for his expressions of good will. I should like to echo the republican sentiments of my noble friend Lord Milner, and I am glad to have his legal endorsement of the general Privy Council situation. I know we all send our best wishes to The Gambia for their continuing prosperity.