Premier Alex Scott has no plans to step down from the leadership of his party in November as rumoured.

"I didn't start that rumour," he said during a brief interview at Cabinet Office yesterday.

"I'm bringing books in and putting pictures on the wall. In fact I'm getting to like it here."

The Premier said that joint select committees could be one way to realise bipartisan cooperation on some critical issues, such as education, housing and seniors. But he qualified his support for such co-operation by saying that the adversarial Westminster system had the ability to "bring the best out of government policy."

"But... do we let some of our debate turn into rancour in parliament? Could we take some of the edge off of it but not let the debate suffer. I don't know that we can. I don't know that we necessarily overdo it here," he said, adding that some parliaments had far more "robust" debates.

"The other point is that we have to be careful how we agree too quickly, Opposition and Government. If you are a member of the Opposition and I'm a member of the Government and we agree on term limits, the public is left out. "The two of us or a small committee have decided without the public having the full measure or hearing the arguments. So it is important for there to be a divergence of views. But again it's to talk to the Opposition Leader to see if there are areas where we might say these things we can consider in the national interest."

But asked what aspects of the UBP's platform he found most impressive, Mr. Scott said: "Not that much. They were doing a sell job. I thought it was more superficial than a document of depth. They spent millions but I think they caught the imagination of the public - they did better than I thought they would do.

"If they represent 48 percent of the popular vote and we represent 52, I take that under advisement. That means that superficial or not, it is in the interests of the voting populace and the general populace for me to listen closely to what they may have to say on one or two points and then we go ahead and govern."

Mr. Scott said that he did not believe that the UBP's much touted "First Homes" programme, which the party said would see $2,000 a month mortgages for two bedroom homes, was viable. And he reminded the public that labour leader Derrick Burgess had suggested a similar scheme but "received a cold shoulder from the bank" and "got roasted by the media".

"But the UBP came by with the same sort of model and seemed to get a warm reception. So there you have it."

He also pledged that his administration will conduct government business transparently and release a number of long awaited reports. And the Premier said he had not been surprised that the issue of independence did not get a mention on his party's electoral platform.

"The former Premier made it abundantly clear that she wanted her administration to get on top of those crucial issues which the previous platform had articulated. And she did that," Mr. Scott said.

But he repeated a pledge made shortly after taking office that he would not have a problem if his colleagues asked for the matter to be discussed.

And Mr. Scott responded to criticisms made by Transport Minister Ewart Brown during the post election leadership tussle. In a speech urging the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) to select him leader, Dr. Brown had said that Bermuda had become a rudderless ship and that there was a "growing impatience" and "rumbles of discontent" with the Island's progress on social issues.

"I thought I was in a good position to win," the Premier said when asked his thoughts as he listened to Dr. Brown's speech.

"The points that he made were not necessarily on all fours with the rank and file. The rank and file believed in where we were. They did not necessarily feel that we had missed our mark," Mr. Scott continued.

"But I think that Dr. Brown will be the first to tell you that he was campaigning, he was trying to demonstrate through his speech the point that he was making with some of his colleagues - that we should review where we were. So you had two schools of thought, not necessarily a large disagreement, two schools of thought on the approach that we should take now to the voters and to the general public."

Mr. Scott added: "And you do now hear me now saying that if individuals would like to put independence up for discussion, we can discuss it. I have already said that housing requires us to have another look at how we are approaching it.

"It doesn't mean that we did a bad job in the first four or five years, it means that we can do a better job probably now. Same for seniors. So there's not a disagreement."

He added that he had focused on the need for "all good men and women to come to the aid of this great party" and that Dr. Brown's speech had in fact given him the edge in the leadership contest. The PLP's second term in office will place an emphasis on social issues but "we can talk and chew gum at the same time," he said.

"We certainly will not become preoccupied with addressing social issues and lose sight of the impact that business has, actually, on social issues. If business is robust and the cashier's box is ringing then people will remain employed. The economy will go from strength to strength. So we have to address both."

Asked whether he slept better now that he had handed over direct responsibility for the Berkeley construction project, he said: "I slept when I had it and I sleep now. We did a good job on the Berkeley. The press didn't do a good job of covering what we were doing but we did a good job."

He explained that the contractor Proactive had "got the numbers right" and are "doing a quality job". "Folks seem to forget that when CedarBridge was built the whole center-piece collapsed and had to be done over again," the Premier continued.

"Construction sites are challenging and the new senior secondary school is no less challenging than others, but they are doing a quality job. It's a medium sized firm and we're very pleased that they had the opportunity. Sure it would have been nice if we gave them the contract and they turned the keys over to us and there hadn't been a problem. But life's not like that."

Asked his long term vision for Bermuda, Mr. Scott said: "That's another interview. That's a big one... A united Bermuda, pulling on all of its resources and that's really referring to the talent pool that we have here.

"As I said about the party, I can say about Bermuda - the talent pool is deep and I don't think the country has benefited from all pulling in the same direction. But I think we are off to a good start."