HC Deb 23 June 1977 vol 933 cc550-1W
Sir Bernard Braine

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in the light of the forthcoming constitutional talks on the Gilbert Islands and the Banaban plea for the separation of Ocean Island, why, since Jamaica and the Cayman Islands lying some 178 miles apart were both ceded to the Crown by the Treaty of Madrid in 1670, the Cayman Islands did not remain with Jamaica when that colony became independent on 6th August 1962.

Mr. Luard

The Cayman Islands were formally brought within the jurisdiction of the Jamaican legislature in 1863 but retained a degree of local autonomy. They were separated in 1959 and joined the West Indian Federation in 1959 as a "unit territory". On the dissolution of the Federation in 1962 it was generally agreed that the territory should remain a British dependency.

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