§ 2.48 p.m.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what conclusions they have reached on the recommendations in the report of the Royal Commission under the chairmanship of Lord Pitt of Hampstead on the cause of the riots in Bermuda in December 1977.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, the British Government consider the recommendations in Lord Pitt's excellent report to be important to the future of Bermuda. Implementation is primarily the responsibility of the Bermuda Government, with whom my honourable friend in another place, the Minister of State (Mr. Rowlands) recently exchanged views and with whom we remain in regular contact through the Governor.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, while thanking the Minister for that reply, may I ask whether he appreciates that many of us who read these reports find this one unique in its literary quality, in its deep economic and social analysis, and in its challenging recommendations for the conditions of independence? 303 Would it be possible for us at some time to debate this matter before final decisions are reached?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, there are of course the usual channels through which the last point of my noble friend's supplementary question can be pursued. I join with him in paying tribute to my noble friend Lord Pitt of Hampstead and other members of this Commission for the quality of the report. It is constructive and, as my noble friend said, it is written in a pleasing literary style; Sir Ernest Gowers has obviously had an influence on Bermuda as well. I was charmed to see that my noble friend was responsible for heading all the various chapters of this somewhat technical report with quotations from the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare.
With regard to the point which my noble friend made concerning the putting into effect of various recommendations, I should say that some of these are for the Bermudan Government themselves, while others are the responsibility of Her Majesty's Government. I am glad to inform my noble friend that both the Bermudan Government and the present Governor—a most able and eminent man—are examining very carefully the various points put forward by the report. I have every hope that constructive suggestions of acceptance on many of these points will be reaching us quite soon. We for our part will look at what we can do as the paramount Government until independence. This brings me to the final point that my noble friend made. Independence is a matter for the Bermuda people and Government in the first place. It is for them to decide whether they want to move, or begin to move, along that path.