hold a conference on planned changes to the Constitution.

But she said the recommendations of the Boundaries Commission on constituency sizes and numbers of MPs could be "taken to the public''.

Ms Smith, speaking at a press conference on another matter, did not spell out precisely how the recommendations, once they are received from the Boundaries Commission, would be canvassed among the voters.

Responding to questions from The Royal Gazette , she said there would be ample opportunities to discuss the changes when the House of Assembly resumes and later when the Boundaries Commission makes its recommendations.

The United Bermuda Party has called for a constitutional conference to hammer out the changes, which will result in single seat constituencies, redrawn boundaries, and a reduction in the number of MPs.

Ms Smith said yesterday: "We have already said how we will look at those changes and a constitutional conference is not in it.

"We have said when the House resumes in the Autumn we will debate it in the House, then send the order to the UK. The changes we are anticipating have been on the Progressive Labour Party agenda since 1963.

"They are clearly understood by the Bermudian electorate. What they do is allow the Boundaries Commission to consider electoral constituencies outside parish boundaries.

"The Boundaries Commission cannot do anything. They recommend. Recomendations on change to the Constitution must be cleared in the House of Assembly, then debated by elected representatives.

"There are ample opportunities, once we have recommendations from the Boundaries Commission, to take those recommendations to the public.'' She said she did not want to pre-empt the findings of the Boundaries Commission, which will look at the latest census findings and the Island's demographics before making recommendations.

"Once we have recommendations we will be able to form an opinion. To form an opinion in a void is counter-productive.'' She added: "I fail to see how we can continue to mistake reducing the number of Parliamentarians with reducing the number of constituencies.

"Bermuda has dual seat constituencies. We can increase the number of constituencies while reducing the numbers of Members of Parliament. When you compare us to any other countries inside the Commonwealth and outside the Commonwealth, Bermuda has a far greater proportion of representatives for a population of 60,000.

Premier rules out conference again "The Bahamas has ten times our population and they have 40 members. We will have better, more democratic and certainly a more accountable representation if the public votes for one representative who represents a constituency of equal numbers to another constituency.

"We cannot go into the 21st Century continuing to have a situation whereby we have some constituencies twice as large as others both returning the same number of representatives. That is not democracy.'' Ms Smith was also asked if she had any response to the announcement last week that British citizenship was unlikely to be granted to Overseas Territories residents until after the next British General Election, which could take place as late as 2002.

She said: "Previously, and I was not present, the Attorney General attended a meeting in the British Virgin Islands which was intended to discsus the British Nationality Act and I have not had a report from the AG.''