ABSTRACT
In the author’s 1977 volume,1 he referred to the status of associated statehood that had been granted to Antigua, in common with the other five territories of St Vincent, St Lucia, Dominica, Grenada and St Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla. In dealing with the future of Antigua, it was stated that in 1974, George Walter, Premier of the country (then under a government of the Progressive Labour Movement (PLM)) had made it clear that the 1976 elections would be fought ‘on an independence ticket’.2 The 1976 elections were, in the event, won by the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) headed by Vere C Bird (later Sir Vere), a veteran and distinguished politician, whose party had at first taken the line that, although it favoured independence, there should be a referendum to determine the wishes of the people in the matter. Walter’s intention to take Antigua to early independence had, of course, been understandable since, although Antigua was the first territory to be created an associated State, by 1974 Grenada, which obtained that status after Antigua, had already become an independent country within the Commonwealth.
