Bermuda's Parliament should have a special period set aside for a UK-style question time, Opposition leader Pamela Gordon said yesterday.

Ms Gordon was speaking after the Opposition claimed the ruling Progressive Labour Party had last Friday filled up the one-hour slot allotted for questions, congratulations and condolences to avoid embarrassment over Government spending on trips overseas.

She said: "It was very evident that they were uncomfortable with answering questions.'' But Finance Minister Eugene Cox last night said he felt it was unnecessary to change the current procedure and noted that compared with Bermuda, the present British system had less time allotted for questions.

"I have sat in the House of Commons on several occasions and at the moment I believe the Prime Minister only has 15 minutes to answer questions,'' Mr. Cox said, "whereas in Bermuda you can almost have as long as is necessary''.

Mr. Cox further charged the Opposition with "trying to hoodwink the public'' as he claimed that it was its own poor planning that led to questions not being answered verbally on the floor of the House of Assembly on Friday.

"They shot themselves in the foot, that's what they did,'' Mr. Cox charged.

"And where they went wrong is that they did not have a strategy when they came to the House.

"They promoted the congratulations and obituaries section so that it went beyond 11 o'clock and everyone in the House knows, or at least they should know, that questions have to start by 11 o'clock if verbal answers are wanted.'' "Rather than tell the public the truth on how, because they couldn't curb their appetite to grab the congrats and obits, they landed in the unfortunate position of not having their questions answered,'' Mr. Cox added. "They have tried to hoodwink the public.

"Their leader should have strategised and had a plan perhaps allowing only three or four of her members to talk or just ensuring everyone was finished by 10.30 a.m. at the latest.'' Mr. Cox also stressed that he had supplied written answers to the Opposition's questions before the House broke for lunch.

"I had the answer typed up and even provided information that would have satisfied supplementary questions they may have had,'' he said.

"I think their behaviour on this topic is just ridiculous.'' But Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon contended: "Some of our supplementaries would have shown that Government made a direct contribution to the British Labour Party by way of a booth at the conference, which cost $20,000.

"That means the taxpayers of Bermuda have made a donation to the Labour Party -- we felt that was wrong, but they were not prepared to be accountable.'' Bermuda Parliamentary practice allows the Government of the day to give written replies, with supplementaries being allowed -- unless the hour runs out.

Ms Gordon said previous Governments had not changed the system -- but that current practice in other countries did not come to light until a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference called on the change of Government on the Island in October.

She added: "It was indicated that Bermuda is now out of step. Questions are supposed to be topical and current, therefore the present system of asking ten days in advance is no longer applicable.

"It was recommended at the CPA conference that that is one of the things which should be changed -- we put this in our reply to the Throne Speech.'' Ms Gordon added: "The UBP Government had not done a Parliamentary seminar -- we had been the Government for a very long time and this had not been brought to our attention by the CPA.

"But it's a new Parliament and a new group of people and they also raised the question of dealing with questions in Parliamentary procedure.

"There should be a time set aside specifically for Parliamentary questions -- they should be able to be asked no matter what time of day it is. It should be an agenda item.

"It's a deficiency. It was a deficiency under the UBP and it remains one -- what we're trying to do is create better Government.'' Ms Gordon said it was important that Opposition act out its role of holding Government accountable for its actions -- which was difficult to do if the ruling party chose to talk out an hour with congratulatory and obituary speeches.

She added: "If the PLP want to raise money or donate money to the UK Labour Party, that's their business.

"But it seems they're saying the price of doing business with the Labour Party in the UK is by making donations and that they can't use their influence as Government of Bermuda and meet with members of the UK Government on that basis.

"All previous Governments have been able to negotiate Government-to-Government without paying into their coffers to curry favour -- that cannot be right.''