Finance Minister Paula Cox should "read the riot act" to her Government colleagues to stop them from alienating international business leaders, according to an Opposition Senator.

Sen. Michael Fahy, of the United Bermuda Party pointed to recent remarks by Premier Ewart Brown and Home Affairs Minister David Burch as reflective of an "ill-considered" approach towards the international business community.

Yesterday, UK-based trade publication Insurance Day quoted a senior director at a leading actuarial firm as saying that representatives of leading companies here were "not happy with the treatment they're getting" and were reconsidering their position.

Sen. Fahy said the article was indicative of problems with Government's relationship with international companies.

"The Minister of Finance is, I'm sure, doing the best she can, but her job is made more difficult by negative messages sent by her own colleagues, most recently the Government Leader in the Senate and the Premier," Sen. Fahy said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

He was referring to Sen. Burch questioning the credentials of XL Capital's Michael McGavick, after the CEO had suggested the tax threat from the US was now "extremely real".

And he also pointed to Dr. Brown's "outburst" in reaction to the UK's intention to hold a review of all its territories that are financial centres, including Bermuda. Dr. Brown claimed the review was an affront to Bermudians and that it strengthened the case for independence.

"It is vital that we do whatever we can to protect Bermuda's sterling reputation," Sen. Fahy said. "Recent statements by Ms Cox's colleagues reflect a clumsy, ill-considered and irresponsible approach to the international business community.

"The stakes are too high for Government leaders to make careless remarks that do nothing but alienate the very people who contribute so much to our economic well being.

"We are creating uncertainty where none should be. We are making it easier for our competitors to lure away our business. It makes no sense and we implore the Finance Minister to read the riot act to her colleagues. That we should be worsening the climate for business just as the world is entering a period of recession is the height of irresponsibility."

The Insurance Day piece focused on Hiscox's decision to close a Bermuda-based business unit just three months after it opened for business. Six jobs were axed around the world, of which two were in Bermuda. Hiscox still employs 27 people on the Island.

Robert Childs, who leads Hiscox's Bermuda operations, told this newspaper the company hoped to expand its local workforce, maintaining its focus on property catastrophe lines, and that the move in no way reflected any lack of confidence in Bermuda as a jurdsdiction. Hiscox redomiciled to Bermuda from the UK in 2005.

Insurance Day interpreted the closure of the unit as meaning that "Bermuda's selling point as the start-up haven for international reinsurance has taken a knock".

The unnamed actuarial firm director, quoted by the publication, said: "What I am hearing from my contacts on the Island is that those companies which have done so much to put Bermuda on the map - and put money into its economy - are not happy with the treatment they're getting.

"Many people feel it has alienated them and are now reconsidering their position."

Sen. Fahy also noted that a recent survey published by Global Reinsurance magazine found that 80 percent of Bermuda-based insurance executives questioned believed their companies should consider their exit strategies, as a result of the political situation on the Island, while 20 percent said politics was a concern, but that it should not impact on the industry.