Saint Kitts and Nevis: Independence Movement

Saint Kitts and Nevis moved toward independence gradually, following a path common to Britain's smaller Caribbean territories in the postwar decades. The islands, together with Anguilla, became an Associated State with internal self-government in 1967, but Anguilla's residents soon rejected the arrangement and effectively separated from the union, complicating the territory's constitutional future. In the 1975 elections the Labour Party won a mandate to pursue full independence from Britain, and formal discussions began the following year, though resolving Anguilla's status remained an obstacle for several more years.

By 1979 the Labour government under Premier C.A. Paul Southwell had accepted Anguilla's de facto separation, clearing the way for renewed independence talks, though the opposition Nevis Reformation Party initially resisted independence alongside Saint Kitts without stronger guarantees for Nevis. After the People's Action Movement and the Nevis Reformation Party formed a coalition government following the 1980 election, the two parties negotiated the terms of independence, culminating in a constitutional conference held in London in 1982.

Despite continued disagreement over the degree of autonomy to be granted to Nevis, the negotiations produced a constitution establishing a twin-island federation with a local Nevis administration and the option for Nevis to secede following a referendum. Saint Kitts and Nevis became fully independent on September 19, 1983, with Dr. Kennedy Simmonds of the People's Action Movement serving as the nation's first prime minister.