Following is the opening statement made by then Premier of Grenada Eric Matthew Gairy at the Marlborough House talks which led to Grenada's independence:

Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Honourable Leader of the Opposition, Distinguished Delegates of this Conference, Ladies and Gentlemen-

I have the very pleasant duty to bring to you, your Government and the people of Great Britain warm and sincere greetings and felicitations from the Government and people of the State of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique.
As Head of Government I have been solemnly charged with the responsibility by the Government and people to reaffirm my country's unswerving support for the British system of Parliamentary democracy which stands out as a beacon and a symbol of freedom, justice and political stability.

Grenada lends itself very favourably to visitors because of its natural endowments - the warmth of our people and the friendliness, its picturesqueness, the sun, sea, sand and spices. Grenada, though geographically small, has a name and a history comparable to many large countries of the world.

It is my duty to remind your Government and people and especially your business investors that within the context of the Caribbean Free Trade Area, and our political stability, Grenada offers very favourable investment opportunities.
Mr. Minister, I have referred to political stability, and at this juncture it might be fitting to recount, if only for the record, the people's choice of Government over the past 22 years. The result of the 1951 general elections gave eloquent testimony when we of the Grenada United Labour Party won six out of eight elected seats.

In 1954, Mr. Minister, the people again spoke in no uncertain terms when they returned the Grenada United Labour Party with seven out of eight elected seats.
Mr. Minister, in 1957 we won two seats only against two other parties, the Grenada National Party, now the Opposition, winning two seats also and the People's Democratic Movement, now gone into complete oblivion, also winning two, and two independents. The significant feature of that election was the fact that my party secured 49 per cent of the votes cast.

Although a coalition Government was formed comprising the two other parties and the two independents, the present official Opposition can lay no claim to have won that election.

In fact, if any single party can lay claim to that election, in all modesty it would have had to be the Grenada United Labour Party.

It is also worthy of note, Mr. Minister, that in 1958, though my party formed the Opposition in the Grenada Legislature, we registered an overwhelming victory in winning both seats allocated to Grenada in the Federal House of Representatives. In the year 1961 when there were 10 elected seats we of the Grenada United Labour Party secured eight of them.

There were general elections again in 1962 when there was a craze to link Grenada into unitary statehood with Trinidad and Tobago, when every teacher, every policeman, every nurse, every doctor, and the civil servants as a whole were indoctrinated into believing that their salaries would be on par with those of Trinidad and Tobago and that the people of Grenada would have free and unrestricted movement to Trinidad.

And so, making this issue of unitary statehood the main plank of their platform, the Grenada National Party, the present official dwindling Opposition, won elections for the first and only time, gaining six out of ten seats. So in the last 22 years, Mr. Minister, this was the only time that we of the Grenada United Labour Party lost an election.

In 1967 the people continued to repose implicit confidence in the Grenada United Labour Party when we emerged victoriously with seven out of ten seats. In 1972, our last general elections, independence was the main issue of our party's electioneering campaign. We the people's elected majority have always known what we stood for. We knew what we want, we have always known what we want. We said it loud and clear, well before last year's general elections.

The Opposition by their very vicious criticism helped in publicising the issue of independence throughout the length and breath of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique. We again scored another overwhelming victory, capturing 13 of the 15 seats in the House of Representatives, and of the two seats we lost one was lost by one vote only.

Those who cannot respect the true machinery of democracy - the people's voice through their elected Government - which is the long established tradition of British Parliamentary democracy - are indeed very much removed from the threshold of accepted leadership. Some people cherish the idea that they have a louder voice when rejected by the electorate and they are asking the British Government, the beacon of democracy, to condone that concept.

During our last electioneering campaign we made it overwhelmingly and abundantly clear to the electorate that we proposed seeking the co-operation of Her Majesty's Government in the exercise of their powers under the West Indies Act 1967, to assist us in achieving full independence for the State of Grenada and its people.

This, of course, was in consequence of discussions held with Mr. Godber, the then Minister responsible for Commonwealth affairs. Now that we have secured a tremendously resounding victory over those opposed to our chosen path of independence, we the people of Grenada can only see our country as an independent nation, small, but vibrant, and making its contribution to the world through its role as a member within the framework of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

Mr. Minister, the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique have affirmed that the nation of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique is to be founded upon principles that acknowledge the fatherhood and the supremacy of God, and man's duties towards his fellowmen, and whose foremost gift of life is that the law of love is the supreme law of the universe.

We recognise that in as much as spiritual development is of supreme importance to human existence and the highest expression thereof it is the aspiration of our people to serve that end with all our strength and resources.

We firmly believe in the dignity of human value and that all men are endowed by the creator with equal and irrevocable rights, reason and conscience; that rights and duties are correlatives in every social and political activity of man; and that while rights exalt individual freedom, duties express the dignity of that freedom.

My people, Mr. Minister, have expressed their respect for the rule of law; and since moral conduct constitutes that noblest flowering of our culture and our plural heritage, it is the duty of every man always to hold it in high respect. We reiterate that the ideal of free men enjoying freedom from fear and want can be best achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social and political, civil and cultural rights.

My people, Mr. Minister, desire that their constitution should enshrine these principles and beliefs which represent those high ideals upon which our nation is to be founded, and make provision for ensuring the protection in Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique of fundamental rights and freedoms.

If I may further crave your indulgence, Mr. Minister, I should like to refer to our manifesto which we circulated before the last general elections, "Manifesto for Independence". Many thousand copies were printed and circulated. With your permission I would like to read from the very first page:

"Independence: The basis for all that we have done and all that we have to do is independence for Grenada and her people. We have stated that in the past our full commitment is to full integration of the Commonwealth Caribbean.

We believe that meaningful integration is only possible when all the units involved are independent. We do not pretend that the task which will lie before us as an independent nation is an easy one. We do not regard our size as any deterrent to independence. We are satisfied that we cannot achieve our full potential as a semi-independent country. We owe it to ourselves and to those who come after us to establish a fully independent Grenada and we therefore commit our Party and our programme to independence for Grenada."