Secretaries over the grant of British passports to dependent territories may seem to be bad news.

But, if the reports are true -- and there is some question over that -- then Bermuda should take heart that Foreign Secretary Robin Cook is firmly behind the idea of granting passports to dependent territory citizens.

While it is by no means a done deal, Mr. Cook's reported position represents a sea change from the UK's stated position less than a year ago when Baroness Symons, the junior Foreign Office Minister responsible for Bermuda, rejected the idea out of hand.

And while the British Home Office doubtless does have some concerns -- particularly with regard to what it would mean for the Hong Kong Chinese -- this is a step in the right direction.

Coming on the heels of the meeting between Premier Pamela Gordon and the leaders of most of the Caribbean dependent territories, the Island's delegations should be able to go to London with some confidence they can achieve their major goals.

At the same time, it is important that the delegations should go with the same ideas in mind; that is, continuation of the status quo and rights of residence.

One thing that clearly came out of the dependent territories meeting was that the dependent territories, while they share several concerns, are going to London with somewhat different priorities.

Bermuda, the most constitutionally advanced of the territories, is much less concerned about issues of self-government than territories like Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos.

Premier Gordon was right to support in principle the continued constitutional advancement of the other territories and to offer advice to them. But Bermuda would be quite wrong to actively campaign on their behalf as Government is not sufficiently well informed about them and problems in any of the territories could then prove to be embarrassing for the Island.

Similarly, Bermuda should be careful not to get involved in disputes between the other dependent territories over issues like the decriminalisation of gay sex, which Britain reportedly wants abolished. These are issues which need to be settled between Britain and the individual territories.

Bermuda instead needs to keep its "eye on the prize'', which in this case is right of residence and the benefits which would go along with it.

To that end, it's not too late for Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness -- in Premier Pamela Gordon's absence -- to reach out to the Opposition to settle any disputes which exist between them.

Some, like the "Ewart Brown question'', may prove impossible for the parties to reconcile. But the importance of the Government and Opposition delegations going to London with the same priorities cannot be underestimated.