Opposition MP John Barritt has come under fire for criticising Parliament rules and procedures in an article he wrote in The Royal Gazette.

Attorney General Dame Lois Browne-Evans on Friday night accused Mr. Barritt of "deplorable" behaviour in condemning some of the rules of the House in his opinion piece, which appeared last Thursday.

In the article, Mr. Barritt said "recent debates in the House of Assembly have underscored, once again, the need for reform in the way in which MPs conducted the Country's business".

And he said more than a year ago, he had recommended a review of the Rules of the House of Assembly and proposed some changes, not least the formation of a House Business Committee to better coordinate and plan the legislative agenda.

This he said, would reduce the delay in items coming up for debate in Parliament, and would enable time allocations to be given to each issue.

However, he said the House agreed to refer the proposals to the Rules and Privileges Committee, and they had not been heard of since.

The same, he said, of the recommendation for MPs to submit themselves for drug testing. That, too, had in effect died.

On Friday in the House of Assembly Dame Lois said, as a long-standing member of Parliament and a lawyer, Mr. Barritt should have known better.

She said: "I was dismayed to read an article in which he condemns the House, of which we are all members, and he condemns it because of something to do with drug testing and rules of this House.

"He took to the public waves to criticise us and he is supposed to be a loyal member.

"I would have expected as a Member of Parliament and as a member of the hallowed profession that there would be some ethical things that would stop him from writing in that vein and from continuing to condemn the actions of his fellow members."

Mr. Barritt said his comments in the newspaper last week were only what he had voiced in the House a year ago, when he made his recommendations.

He said in all of the opinion pieces he wrote for The Royal Gazette, he had always approached the newspaper, and not the other way around.

And the Shadow Minister, who used to be a journalist, said members of the Progressive Labour Party had also often written articles for the Press.

"The article which appeared in The Royal Gazette this week was, in fact, my article and was, in fact, my words. It was about something about which I feel quite strong.

"That should not surprise members because some time ago I brought forward a paper here to say it was long due and the rules of the House should be amended."

And he said his article was critical of the way in which "we" in the House did business, not anyone in particular.

Mr. Barritt said he had been disappointed with the lack of progress of the paper, and that was why he had written the piece.

He added: "I also wanted to speak directly to the people. I quite enjoyed the article and, if nothing else, I found it good therapy, and some people who read it said they found it amusing."

Mr. Barritt said he believed that anything that brought the community in to the workings of the House should be welcome.

He added: "I like to think I have some talent in this area. Goodness gracious, you want to shoot me down."