Bermuda Premier calls for independence referendum

Tuesday, March 2, 2004

HAMILTON, Bermuda: Bermuda's premier has called for a national debate on independence from Britain and said the wealthy island can fully develop only if it breaks centuries-old colonial ties.

According to Reuters, Premier Alex Scott's center-left Progressive Labor Party supports independence but has not put the issue on the agenda since winning power for the first time in 1998.

"It is for the people of Bermuda to decide whether or not they wish to become independent," Scott told supporters on Sunday. "But we consider it our duty to declare our conclusion that only with independence can national unity be forged and pride in being Bermudian fully develop. We call on the people of Bermuda to act boldly in fashioning their future."

The ruling party supports putting independence to the test at a general election, but the center-right opposition United Bermuda Party favors a referendum followed by a constitutional conference. The next general election must be held by 2008.

Some 75 percent of Bermudians voted against independence when it was last put to a referendum in 1995, but the poll was boycotted by the Progressive Labor Party.

Bermuda, with a population of 62,000, would be the third wealthiest country in the world based on a gross domestic product per capita of nearly $60,000.

The self-governing colony has been under British control since 1684.

The low-tax island has one of the world's biggest reinsurance markets and is the nominal home of 13,500 international companies.

Business groups welcomed the call for debate on independence.

"The subject is going to come up and it is good that he (Scott) is looking for an open discussion," said Bermuda Chamber of Commerce President Charles Gosling.

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