HC Deb 29 January 1969 vol 776 cc346-7W
Mr. Marten

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the constitutional future of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent.

Mr. Whitlock

It was decided at the 1966 Conference that St. Vincent should become an Associated State. Parliament made appropriate provision in the West Indies Act, 1967.

The proposals of the St. Vincent Government for the constitution under which Statehood should be achieved were published in St. Vincent last November and have since been extensively publicised and discussed and debated in the legislature. They have recently been sent formally to my right hon. Friend and are now under consideration.

Mr. Marten

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when elections will be held on the island of St. Vincent.

Mr. Whitlock

Elections were last held in St. Vincent in May, 1967. Under the present constitution the normal life of the legislature then returned would be a maximum of five years.

The question of elections in relation to Statehood is one of the matters on which the political parties in St. Vincent hold differing views. It is accordingly one of the matters we shall be considering in connection with the St. Vincent Government's proposals for Statehood.