Senate last night passed legislation to pave the way for a ground-breaking deal between Britain and the United States in which America will renounce the right to re-occupy former military bases in Bermuda.

The opposition United Bermuda Party said Government and Britain should have pushed harder to get the Americans to foot the bill for the multi-million dollar clean-up of the bases, but the Progressive Labour Party said the deal was the best the Island could get.

The historic agreement between Washington and London, which is expected to be signed shortly, will terminate the 1941 Leased Bases Agreement and hand back around two square miles of land to Bermuda.

This Agreement runs until 2040 and allows the Americans to re-occupy not just the former bases at Morgan's Point and St. David's, but also any land, sea or air space around Bermuda if the U.S considers it to be an emergency.

PLP senators stressed Bermuda has no formal rights to negotiate on the base lands because the 1941 deal was signed between the United Kingdom and the US.

But the United States Bases (Termination of Agreements) Act 2002, which Senate passed last night, paves the way for changing a number of pieces of legislation in Bermuda to allow the deal to be signed.

Government Senate Leader Colonel David Burch said the U.S had steadfastly refused to clean-up former bases in other countries, and even in America itself, and this was not going to change.

And Washington had indicated it could have a counter-claim against Bermuda for the infrastructures such as the roads and the airport which US forces built until they left the Island in 1995.

Under the proposed deal, the US will give Bermuda $11 million as final settlement for repairs to Longbird Bridge and may provide the Island with a Coastguard vessel.

The Bermuda Regiment will train with the Florida National Guard, and Bermuda will allow North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) troops, including Americans, to use the Island.

The UBP opposed the agreement, saying Government should have continued negotiating, but Senate passed the United States Bases (Termination of Agreements) Act 2002 by seven votes to four, with Independent Senators Walwyn Hughes and Alf Oughton backing Government. The other independent, Jean Cannonier, was absent.

Sen Burch said the PLP initially took the approach of previous UBP governments of lobbying Washington, but the U.S advised them of possible counter-claims, so Government enlisted the support of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

"We went the whole 100 yards. This is the best deal that Bermuda is going to get," he said.

Asking what more the UBP would have done, he said: "We Bermudians are special people, but you need to explain to me and the people of Bermuda how it is you could force America.

"Get some tanks and roll down Pennsylvania Avenue and say: 'Geedubbya, let's have it. This isn't good enough'?

"I've never heard such arrant nonsense in all my life. You negotiated and got zero, zilch, nada, nothing. Eleven million means nothing to me, but what is more important to the people of Bermuda is that we have jurisdiction over our land and don't need to worry about America in the current climate moving troops all over the place (re-occupying the land)."Opposition Sen. Neville Darrell said: "This bill is premature and we need to get to get a better outcome and continue the process. A substantial part of the land is contaminated and there is no redress.

"We can't trade our birthright because they gave us an airport and the infrastructure. We are thankful for all that but they have created some damage to our country and they should do something. We should try to exercise our voice one more time, and if the answer is 'no,' at least we tried it one more time."

UBP Senate leader Kim Swan said PLP minister Terry Lister's comments about American being "morally bankrupt" would not have helped Bermuda's case when the negotiations were taking place.

He agreed he could not conclusively prove this was true, but said it "didn't take a rocket scientist" to realise the U.S Consul General in Bermuda would have heard about the comments.

"Bermuda got an inferior deal because you were irresponsible. Unfortunate statements are not corrected and people are not made accountable by leadership," he said.

PLP Sen. Calvin Smith said: "Bermuda needs to ask itself 'has it done badly when you consider all the trade-offs?' No one wants the mess, but there is a whole lot of land where there is no mess that can be used for housing and business and we've got a world class airport that makes international business possible.

"Anyone who has travelled to CARICOM countries (which want an airport) will know if all they had to put up with is cleaning up bases and having an airport, they would wining and dining them (the U.S.) and giving them champagne for months to get it.

"People will say (the airport) has done terrible damage to our marine environment. I say tough, we've got an airport, we've got tourists, we've got hotels, and we've got international business.

"Not us, but because England needed to fight a war and the U.S. needed a base, and the only reason was because the U.S. said 'we need to bring these guys (Bermuda) into it'.

"It wasn't because we had negotiating rights. We didn't. The big picture is we did very well. It would be very nice to come out totally smelling like a rose, but we didn't, but we certainly didn't come out with nothing."