The public row with Britain over the appointment of a non-Bermudian Chief Justice has not pushed Independence on to Government's immediate agenda, Premier Alex Scott said last night.

A special Cabinet meeting will be held this morning, after which the Premier will give his first “broad strokes” response to last week's British rebuttal of his favoured candidate, Puisne Judge Norma Wade Miller.

Mr. Scott said many lawyers had told him there were legal, constitutional avenues which could be pursued following the decision to appoint Englishman Richard Ground, a former Bermuda Puisne judge, but he had not decided to take any.

When asked last night by The Royal Gazette if the row had pushed Independence on to the Government agenda, Mr. Scott said: “I haven't gone that far.

“I am addressing the immediate fall-out of the decision. I would be less than honest if I didn't say some had spoken in those terms, but Government is not at this moment in time speaking about independence.

“There have been various responses. There have been those who feel very strongly about it as well as those who say ‘well, we're a colony, what do you expect?'.

“There has been, especially in the ranks of the legal fraternity, lawyers who are understandably the most informed, who are concerned and saying what does it mean about future careers in the justice system and other areas where decisions are not ours exclusively to take, that is, not Bermuda's to take.

“You may attach some significance to the fact there are options. Members of the legal fraternity have opinions as to how to move forward, especially how it relates to the constitution.”

Before he meet Overseas Territories Minister Bill Rammell in London earlier this month to lobby for Mrs. Wade Miller, Mr. Scott said once Britain named the new Chief Justice, it was “the end of the road”.

But last night he said: “You talk to two lawyers and get three opinions, but we have been given insight we did not have before the decision, and I have been made to see that there are options.”

Mr. Scott said it is likely, if Cabinet approves, that he will release today the text of Government's response to Mr. Rammell because the Overseas Territories Minister had made public his own comments when the decision was made.

In them, Mr. Rammell rebuked the Premier, accusing him of making the appointment the subject of political controversy.

“Tomorrow I will probably make a broad strokes outline about the significance of the decision and what it may mean, but stop short of recommending a way forward,” said Mr. Scott.