MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands' Government prepares for constitutional change

Members of the Falkland Islands Government's Select Committee on the Constitution comprised of the eight elected members of the Legislative Council, recently met with Attorney General, David Lang QC and Chief Executive, Chris Simpkins, to discuss some changes to the Islands' Constitution, which they wished to propose in due course to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

According to FIG spokesman Councillor Mike Summers, he and his colleagues had arrived at what was described as "a strong consensus" on a possible new shape for the government, which would require some changes to the Falklands' Constitution. As the Attorney General bears the major responsibility for the interpretation of the Constitution, it was essential that he should be consulted, said Summers.

The proposed changes would also, if accepted, inevitably have some implications for the future structure of the Civil Service, which is why it was important that preliminary discussions should also take place with the Falkland Islands Government's Chief Executive.

While much detail was still to be worked out, Councillor Summers indicated that the principle change would be a clearer definition and separation of the roles of members of the Islands' Executive and Legislative Councils.

Under the new proposals, there would still be three elected members of Executive Council (ExCo), elected by their peers from among the eight elected members of the Islands Legislative Council, but they would not have responsibility for any specific area of FIG's activities.

The remaining five members of Legislative Council (LegCo) would each chair one of five new portfolio areas into which the existing large numbers of Government portfolios and committees would be grouped.

It was proposed that the new portfolio areas would be as follows: Health and Education Services, Camp (Rural) Issues, Public Works and Land Use, Industry and Services and Corporate Services.

Councillor Summers said that he would shortly be putting the new proposals together in the form of a paper for public consultation, before the process was carried forward further. One of the envisaged benefits of the proposed new definition of the roles of ExCo and LegCo would be increased scrutiny of FIG's decision-making processes.

Ultimately, assuming that a local consensus had been arrived at, the proposals would be submitted to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who have been of late active in urging all British Overseas Territories to revue and modernise their constitutional procedures, following on from the publication some years back of a White Paper entitled Partnership for Progress and Prosperity.

Speaking on the Falkland Islands Radio Service, on Monday, Acting Governor, Harriet Hall, told listeners that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was pleased that the process of constitutional reform was taking place in the Falkland Islands and looked forward to seeing what proposals councillors would be making.

Miss Hall said that the fact that all British Overseas Territories were going through this process was "a very healthy sign" but added that it was important to keep the balance between the rights of the territories to decide what they want to do and the responsibilities that the UK has towards them and that they have towards the UK.

After local consultation has taken place, it is expected that the Select Committee on the Constitution will be in a position to make proposals to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, and as the Acting Governor indicated, there will then follow bilateral discussions. Finally, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will, in its turn, if satisfied with the proposals, advise the Queen's Privy Council* that it should "hand down" a new Constitution to the Falkland Islands.

John Fowler (Mercopress) Stanley

(* The Privy Council, a group composed of the "great and good" of British political and public life and regarded even by some of its own members as an anachronism, is, nevertheless the institution responsible for the arrangements leading to the making of all Royal Proclamations and Orders in Council.)