The Opposition have raised concerns about Speaker Stanley Lowe stopping them for touching on the sacking of Education Minister Randy Horton in their reply to the Throne Speech on Friday.

Mr. Horton was fired earlier this month after Premier Ewart Brown complained he was moving too slowly on education reform.

But when United Bermuda Party Leader Kim Swan raised the issue there were objections from the Progressive Labour Party benches and Mr. Lowe asked him to skip the section.

This week the UBP released the missing piece which included the words: "If we take the Premier at his word, then even the Government believes that its own reform process is floundering.

"On the other hand, Mr. Speaker, some in our community have argued that Minister Horton was a victim of political manoeuvering and that internal PLP politics was given a higher priority than continuity in education reform.

"If so, it's very discouraging, as our students will end up as collateral damage in a battle they didn't ask for. Regardless of what happened behind the scenes, Bermudians are left to watch the continuing saga of PLP mismanagement of the education system.

"Seven education Ministers in ten years: it's a sad testament to the failure of the overhyped PLP education promises that swept the party to power under former Premier Dame Jennifer Smith in 1998."

This week Mr. Swan said he was respectful of the Speaker's role and had followed his ruling.

"However, I feel that it was perfectly reasonable to include the firing of the Minister, the comments of the Premier and the politics at play in education as part of our response to the Throne Speech.

"Changing Ministers in mid-stream in the education reform process has the potential to cause further delay as the new Minister has to get up to speed and may also result in different priorities in the implementation."