Premier Alex Scott yesterday put prayer above politics when it turned out plans to present a petition calling for a referendum on Independence conflicted with a National Day of Prayer event.

Bermudians for a Referendum were scheduled to submit their petition to the Premier at 11 a.m. yesterday, but the event was cancelled because it conflicted with the start of National Day of Prayer events.

Organiser Michael Marsh said the petition, signed by 14,008 registered voters ? a total of 35 percent of the electorate ? will now be handed to the Premier next Tuesday at Cabinet at 12.30 p.m.

The signatures were collected between November 15, 2004 and June 15 this year.

Organisers have said that if the Government does not accept their call for Independence to be decided by referendum rather than a General Election, they will send the petition to the British Government.

Meanwhile Premier Alex Scott is due to present the Bermuda Independence Commission?s report at a Press conference this morning.

The presentation of the report comes after the BIC studied the issue of Independence for six months.

The review included public meetings, a series of hearings with interested parties and two visits to Bermuda by the UN Commission on Decolonisation. It is supposed to lay out the pros and cons of Independence, the potential costs, and the likely mechanism for going to Independence, although it is not expected to make a judgement on whether the decision should be made by referendum or General Election.