Parliamentarians ought to prepare themselves to debate the details of Independence referendum legislation during the coming session the Opposition leader declared yesterday, as he demanded Government set a date early next year for a test on Bermudian?s desire for statehood.

United Bermuda Party leader Grant Gibbons said that if a referendum were held in March, six months from now, there would be more than adequate time to prepare for it. And Dr. Gibbons also demanded that Government present its absentee ballot bill before such a referendum to allow young Bermudians studying abroad a chance to vote.

Discussing the Bermuda Independence Commission (BIC) Report for the first time since its release a week ago, Dr. Gibbons said he felt the ommssion of the UBP?s submission from the Report and other ?glaring errors? seriously undermines the credibility and fairness of the Commission and its findings.

He said it was hard to believe that the omission of the UBP?s submission to the BIC was ?an oversight?.

?Since the BIC Commissioners have apparently gone into self-imposed hiding for 60 days, refusing to speak to the press, neither they, nor the PLP Government have had the courage to provide an explanation for why this happened,? he said.

Dr. Gibbons said the Premier only misled the country yet again by claiming the UBP never made a submission. ?This is a complete falsehood. BIC asked us to make a submission and we did ? 42 pages worth.?

Dr. Gibbons said: ?It is a sorry and shameful day for Bermuda when the Premier makes such untruthful statements to cover up a political embarrassment.?

BIC Commissioners stating that they were unable to find a single country that decided the issue of independence by referendum - a statement repeated by the Premier last Thursday when the Report was made public ? was seen as another ?oversight? by the UBP.

?Where were these Bermudian BIC Commissioners and Premier Scott in 1995 during our own referendum? And what about Quebec, East Timor, Nevis, Curacao and the dozens of countries that have decided sovereignty by referendum??

Dr. Gibbons said this ?blatant error? cast a shadow over the reliability of the entire report.

?If the report is so wrong on something as basic as this, why should we have confidence in the rest of it??

Dr. Gibbons added: ?We also believe that the long overdue absentee ballot legislation should be passed during this session so that eligible young Bermudians studying abroad will have a say in the future of their country.?

Dr. Gibbons said between now and then, those individuals and organisations who wish to state their case for, or against independence should do so now.

He went on to say the BIC Report states that tourism appears to be improving, but the day after the report was released, a BIC Commissioner, who runs a hotel, spoke out about alarmingly low bookings for the rest of the 2005 season ? followed by another article in this week.

?Maybe the Minister of Tourism was invited to write this section, but whoever approved it clearly did not have the facts,? he said.

Dr. Gibbons said while they were obliged to point out misrepresentations and errors in the BIC Report, they also needed to ask whether the BIC Report clarified the debate over independence in any significant way.

?The answer is no! The United Bermuda Party believes that the report favours independence,? he said, adding that this was obvious in the fact that an entire section is devoted to the benefits of independence, while there is no section devoted to its drawbacks or risks.

?The UK Government has indicated in diplomatic, but unambiguous language that British citizenship would not be available to Bermudians without UK family ties should we go independent,? he said.

?Yet the BIC Commissioners recommend that the Bermuda Government persists in trying to persuade the UK government to change its mind.?

Dr. Gibbons said it was obvious that they would not and asked why Commissioners would even make this recommendation since losing British citizenship is a clear downside of going independent for many Bermudians, especially young Bermudians.

He said the BIC Commissioners were deliberately trying to obscure the negative impact of this issue.

?Now that the BIC Report is available to the public, Bermudians also have a right to ask where we go from here, and they have a right to a clear answer. But on this issue, Premier Scott has been less than forthcoming.?

He said no-one ? not even the Premier ? could dispute that a comfortable majority of voters believe that a referendum should decide this issue and that it was far too important an issue to be left in the hands of any political party.

?The United Bermuda Party will do everything possible to fight for our fellow Bermudians? rights to decide this issue through a referendum,? Dr. Gibbons said.

Meanwhile the Government has moved to include the UBP submissions to the BIC Report on its Independence Community Website at www.gov.bm under the title of Bermuda Independence Community.