Independence for Kiribati

Part of Clause 1 – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 11 June 1979.

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Photo of Bernard Braine Bernard Braine , Essex South East 12:00, 11 June 1979

My hon. Friend has crystallised the issue. I could not add to what he has said: he is absolutely right.

The Banabans do not believe—nor should we—that any faith can be put in the entrenched clauses. No Government can bind their successors, and the world is littered with torn-up constitutions devised by Whitehall.

The only real safeguard—the Prime Minister of Fiji alone has had the good sense and vision to propose itßžis one which enables the Banabans and the Gilbertese to be separated ab initio and then to come together in an association as equals. No future Gilbertese Government would then be in a position to take away Banaban rights and to justify it at the bar of world opinion. The Suva proposals would underwrite Banaban identity. They would safeguard Banaban freedom, but they would also preserve for the Gilbertese ultimate sovereignty over the area as a whole. It is an honourable compromise and one that is, to borrow those words again, practical, right and just.

If Ministers will not listen to reason, it seems only right that Parliament should assert itself. These amendments, if carried, will not delay Gilbertese independence but will enable the future relationship of Banaba to the Kiribati Republic and to Fiji to be considered at leisure, without duress, so as to enable an agreed solution to be reached in the Pacific way.

Such a course will not only ensure justice at long last to a grievously wronged people; it will enable us to ensure that Britain's duty, interest and honour are no longer in conflict.