The Progressive Labour Party has debuted a smart new website designed to elicit donations and ideas.

PLP chairman David Burt, who worked on the new design, said a blog will allow registered contributors to suggest policies.

He said: “We are inviting members of the public to submit ideas.

“We don’t have a monopoly on good ideas.”

A blog has already been featured on the PLP youth website and was already yielding results said Mr. Burt.

For instance he said someone had questioned why Portuguese wasn’t taught as a language in public schools while French and Spanish were, even though Bermuda had a strong Portuguese heritage.

“That’s something I had not thought about, but the question should be asked.”

Asked if the party risked legal action if people posted up libellous comments Mr. Burt said people had to register and their email address was checked out.

He added: “All around the world political parties have websites which have blogs.”

The main purpose of the site, last updated more than four years ago, is to help members organise and raise money, said Mr. Burt.

It also features a rolling gallery of pictures of PLP figures.

While most are of Premier Ewart Brown there are also several featuring former leaders including Alex Scott, Dame Jennifer Smith and Dame Lois Browne Evans.

And while some PLP members have often been openly critical of The Royal Gazette, the new site has links to this paper’s news articles.