Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 10:34 am on 15 February 2006.
As a Scottish lawyer, I was intrigued by the establishment of a land registry, given that Scottish jurisdiction has the distinction of having the last system of feudal land ownership in Europe, so I raised exactly that question when I spoke to officials yesterday. They informed me that it was important to have a public record of property on Ascension and who currently occupies it.
The question of individual leases, which have already been issued, is being examined by the Attorney-General, but the almost mechanistic view that the establishment of the land registry would, in and of itself, prejudge the decision that would ultimately be taken by Ministers—in this case, by Lord Triesman—is wrong. It is wrong in the sense that there was, I understand, a clear articulation at the outset of the process that options were being considered. I have acknowledged candidly that there appears to have been some confusion among the limited number of those who reside and work on the island—a number of whom were represented on the island council—who have come to hope for and aspire to property rights being secured.
None the less, from the Foreign Office's point of view, there was a clear view that a decision had yet to be reached and that the consultation that followed—in terms of the visit of the officials to the island and the further discussions that Lord Triesman had with one of the councillors—reflected that ongoing process before the decision was reached last month.