Independence no election issue, says Bermuda premier
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| Published on Friday, June 15, 2007 |
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HAMILTON, Bermuda (Reuters): Bermuda's premier has ruled out putting independence from Britain on the agenda for the next general election that must be called by January 2009.
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| Bermuda's Premier Ewart Brown |
The ruling center-left Progressive Labour Party has long advocated splitting from Britain. But opinion polls show most residents of the wealthy mid-Atlantic island oppose it.
"Nothing about the next election will significantly alter the independence issue," Premier Ewart Brown was quoted as saying in Wednesday's Bermuda Sun newspaper.
A source close to the premier said on Thursday that Brown meant he does not intend to fight the election on the independence issue.
Representatives of Bermuda's international business sector cautioned that any debate about changing the system of government created unwelcome uncertainty.
"If the announcement means that the debate will take place at a later date when there has been more information and education on this issue, I think that will be met with approval by not only the business sector but also by the community at large," said David Ezekiel, chairman of the Association of Bermuda International Companies.
Bermuda is largely self-governing. But responsibility for internal and external security lies with the British-appointed governor.
Brown recently threatened to suspend relations with Gov. Sir John Vereker, whom he blamed for not preventing the leaking to the media of Bermudian police files on a probe into Brown's links to the island's public housing authority.
The dispute ended when the governor and the government agreed to ask British police to investigate the leak.
Brown told the Bermuda Sun that the clash was a symptom of "an unnatural relationship" between Bermuda and Britain.
"We are adults who one day want to handle our own affairs but the colonial arrangement doesn't allow for that," the premier said.
Independence was rejected in a 1995 referendum by 75 percent of voters.
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