New Opposition leader Kim Swan says he hopes Progressive Labour Party MPs will support former Premier Alex Scott's call for public access to information (PATI) legislation.

Mr. Swan also outlined why the United Bermuda Party is pushing for greater transparency — saying it would stop critics speculating over the actions of Government.

Giving his backing to The Royal Gazette's A Right To Know campaign, Mr. Swan said: "I'm pleased to see the former Premier Alex Scott supports public access to information.

"It's easier to support it when you are in the backbench and not responsible for it, but Mr. Scott's support might help bring others to the cause.

"Let him know he's not alone — he's on board with the position that we have had in the United Bermuda Party for years.

"There have been occasions when both sides have worked through things in the best interests of the community, and that's what we should be doing."

As in many jurisdictions, the Opposition in Bermuda has traditionally led the call for a more open Government.

While the UBP was in power in the 1990s, the PLP campaigned for accountability and transparency but, months after the historic 1998 General Election, the UBP was accusing the PLP of failing to live up to its promise to be open.

Although then Premier Mr. Scott made a major step forward in 2005 by releasing a discussion paper on PATI, the issue appeared to drop from the forefront of the PLP's agenda and there was no mention of the bill in the party's 2007 election manifesto.

This newspaper is now calling for Premier Ewart Brown to include PATI in his Throne Speech and for Government to table a bill in Parliament this year.

Explaining his thoughts on transparency, Mr. Swan said: "We have seen periods of time where information has just been shut down and that's just not good. But if you give people the information they can't speculate as to what you might be hiding."

Opposition MP Louise Jackson, who has long called for publicly funded reports into healthcare to be released to the public, also gave her support to PATI.

Government has repeatedly refused to release Johns Hopkins Medicine International's review of healthcare in Bermuda, carried out with $200,000 taxpayers' money last summer. Late last year, this newspaper revealed how former Health Minister Michael Scott wrote that the report needed to be written for the public to avoid embarrassing Government.

Mrs. Jackson said: "They don't want the public to know the bad news. It's our right to know, especially with something as urgent as healthcare. It makes the hairs raise up on the back of your neck if you are a sick person, and you hear the prestigious Johns Hopkins has something to say about the hospital which means Government need to rewrite the report to avoid being embarrassed."

New Health Minister Nelson Bascome did not respond to this newspaper's request for an interview about the Johns Hopkins review, although in a television interview he pledged to be transparent and said he would consider releasing it.