British, Brutish... or Thickish?

November 16, 1965 – British Parliament passed the Southern Rhodesia Act which provided that no laws could be made or business transacted by the Rhodesian Legislative Assembly. The Court held in Madzimbamuto v Lardner-Burke [1969], that even if there was a principle which recognised the need to preserve law and order in territory controlled by a usurper, such a principle could not override the legal right of the British Parliament ‘to legislate’ for a territory under the sovereignty of the Queen in the UK Parliament.

This was recognised even in the face that by passing the Southern Rhodesia Act 1965, the UK Parliament was ignoring the previous constitutional convention that it would not exercise its sovereignty in Commonwealth affairs without the consent of the Rhodesian Government.

Likewise, in Reference Re Amendment of the Constitution of Canada (1982), the Supreme Court ruled that the constitution empowers the Parliament of Canada on ‘matters of law’.

In essence, the Government of Anguilla is within its constitutional right to pass any Bill in its House of Assembly deemed necessary.

As stated before, it is sad that our Oppositions on Anguilla do not have the intellectual clarity and political maturity to tell the government that overall security of the country is intrinsically linked with good governance.

Under Ian Donaldson Mitchell’s influence, change will be a disaster for Anguilla.

British, Brutish... or Thickish?