A Senator has asked Government if it will continue its ?costly? land restriction policy in the wake of the GoldenEye court ruling.

A Supreme Court judge recently ruled that the 2005 decision to ban Bermudians from selling homes to foreigners was ?unlawful? and ?an abuse of power?.

And Opposition Senate leader Kim Swan yesterday said that when the issue was discussed at length during last year?s budget, his party then pointed out that Government was using a ?sledgehammer to crack a nut?.

He added: ?Government was gung-ho on this policy. We said wait a minute. The policy was aimed at fronting but we ended up with a policy that was discriminatory against Bermudians.?

Sen. Swan asked how much money had been spent on GoldenEye legal action ? and whether more costs would be incurred in possible future cases and appeals.

He said it was wrong to discriminate against anyone, no matter how rich or poor they were and called for Government to tell the public if it was going to continue with the policy.

In response, Government Senate leader Larry Mussenden said that the judge in the GoldenEye case had never said that the ban on house sales to foreigners was discriminatory.

The Attorney General questioned whether Sen. Swan had read the court ruling and added: ?If he wants to talks about that particular case, tell us about the details.?

And he said that if there was any doubt that the Opposition ?do not know what they are talking about? on the land policy, then there was no doubt after hearing them debate the subject.

Earlier UBP Senator Bob Richards said the ban on house sales to foreigners was ?closing the corral door after the horse has bolted?.

He pointed to the sale of the Bank of Bermuda and said this deal meant that numerous properties across the Island, previously owned by the bank, were now in the hands of a foreign company.

Mr. Richards also hit out at the six-year work permit limit. He said that this had triggered a loss of middle management jobs overseas, and said jobs of this type at Bank of Bermuda had gone to other parts of the ?HSBC empire?.

Mr. Mussenden said there was no evidence that middle management jobs were being lost overseas. And he told Senators that, despite statistics showing that 75 per cent of work permit holders left Bermuda after seven years, the limit was needed to encourage temporary workers to return home to their ?wonderful countries? and not try and stay permanently.

Earlier, the Government Senate leader told the debate on Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety that anyone who wished to stay longer than three years on a permit had to meet ?key worker? criteria, one of which was that they had to be the best in their field.

?We in Bermuda are the best in the world,? said Mr. Mussenden, ?and we expect those that come in to be the same.?

Puisne Judge Geoffrey Bell, ruling in the GoldenEye case ? involving the Island?s most expensive residential property, a $45 million mansion in St. George?s ? said that the Minister had not acted in the public interest when he brought in the controversial policy change.

Prior to last year?s policy shift, non-Bermudians were permitted to buy homes with an ARV of about $126,000.

It is still unclear what the ruling might mean for other rich Bermudian landowners who wish to sell, and Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton has said that Government was now considering its legal options after the ruling.