Shadow Finance Minister Eugene Cox accused the ruling UBP of scuppering a bill to let the Bank of Bermuda bring in more foreign investment.

Mr. Burgess -- who did not vote when the bill came up during the last session of the House of Assembly -- said he backed the bill.

He added he had missed the vote on the bill -- which fell 15-13, with all the PLP members present voting against it.

But Mr. Burgess said he had intended to vote -- but was working at his Ministry and no-one contacted him to tell him the House was set to make a decision.

He added he had been working on a new deal for long-term residents and moves to assist Lantana employees thrown out of work after the holiday spot shut its doors.

And Mr. Burgess placed the blame for the bill's failure to go through squarely on the shoulders of the Opposition.

He said: "They may well wish to blame us, but public business takes precedence over private bills. And I arrived back at the House livid because I hadn't been called.'' And Mr. Burgess warned: "We may, over a period of time, feel the repercussions of the PLP's inability to grasp the need to go global.

"It's Bermudians and their children who will suffer as consequence of this.'' Mr. Burgess added that his vote would have made no difference to the final result.

And he said the Bank still had the option of transferring their operation to another tax haven, leaving branch offices on the Island.

He added: "The bank can solve its problems outside of Bermuda if they want to -- but Bermudians would suffer.

"Clearly, they have chosen not to do that but I believe the real loser here is not the bank but Bermuda itself and the international business community.

"You can't have the rest of the world opening up and Bermuda continuing to appear to be refusing to do the same.

"The success of future generations is going to very heavily depend on how we embrace the larger world.'' Mr. Burgess claimed it was "alarming'' that the PLP had apparently indicated support for the bank's bid.

He added: "It's that broken promise which has led to Bermuda's name being muddied.

"They call themselves `the Government in waiting' -- the only thing they seem to be waiting on is the opportunity to renege on some more promises.'' Mr. Burgess hit out after Shadow Finance Minister Eugene Cox said Government should have brought the bill forward as part of its legislative programme if it had an interest in seeing the bill passed. And he added that four Government MPs, including Mr. Burgess, were not present for the vote or abstained.

Some MPs -- particularly on the Government side -- could not vote because of an interest in the result.

But Government backbencher Trevor Moniz abstained. He said yesterday that he did not vote because -- although he could vote under the Speaker's rules -- he felt "uncomfortable'' due to "indirect interests in share-holdings in bank.'' And he added that he had also been approached by members of the business community concerned over the Bank of Bermuda apparently being given "preferential treatment'' over the other two banks on the Island.

Two other Government MPs -- Works & Engineering Minister C.V. (Jim) Woolridge and backbencher Irving Pearman -- were not in the House when votes were counted.

Mr. Pearman said he was in the building but not on the floor of the House when the vote was taken. He added: "In a democratic system one has options to vote or not to vote.'' But he insisted there was "no particular reason'' for his decision not to take part.

And he took a side-swipe at Mr. Cox, saying his reasoning "just didn't wash.'' Mr. Pearman said: "He has got to justify a decision his party took to the people of Bermuda -- and this excuse doesn't work.'' Mr. Woolridge declined to comment on his reasons for not voting.