Premier Alex Scott is committing political suicide by foisting Independence upon a sceptical public, a study by a respected independent American think-tank has argued.

In the report, Ashley Rasmussen, a research associate at the Council of Hemispheric Affairs in Washington D.C, accuses Mr. Scott of “purposefully misinterpreting” local polls - which reveal the majority of Bermudians have little interest in sovereignty - in order to further his own political ambitions.

“Despite declining approval ratings, Scott appears ready to put his political career on the line...for independence,” the report reads.

“Yet Scott's failure to adjust to the hard fact that the majority of Bermudians have shown no inclination for Independence is a handicap which could seriously jeopardise his political career...Misinterpreting the results of surveys and advocating something Bermudians do not support will not boost the Premier's ever-declining approval rating, which currently registers at an alarming (from his perspective) 37.3 percent (down from 80 percent a year ago).”

The study goes on to argue Bermuda enjoys de facto self-governance and would derive little economic benefit by severing its constitutional ties with the mother country.

“Despite its status as a British colony, the island enjoys a full self-rule regarding internal affairs, and a close and privileged relationship with the United States,” it says.

“Britain does not even rank among Bermuda's top five trading partners, and has adopted an amiable laissez- faire approach to governing the island...Bermuda's lack of sovereignty clearly does not hurt its economic prospects and self-sufficiency.

As a strong proponent of his country's independence, however, Premier Scott strongly feels otherwise and is attempting on an urgent basis to return the issue of the future status of the island to the limelight, in spite of its persistent frosty public reception.

“From Scott's disappointed perspective from the capital of Hamilton,” the study concludes, “too many islanders presently feel that granting the island independence would only create new problems, something the Bermudian government, under its current colonial status, has never had to face.”

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, founded in 1975, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and information organisation. It has been desribed on the floor of the US Senate as being “one of the nation's most respected bodies of scholars and policy makers”.