Three areas of direct Government control would be jettisoned by a future United Bermuda Party administration for the betterment of Bermuda?s education and legal systems and tourism, according to Opposition leader Wayne Furbert.

He believes the education system needs to be reshaped with public schools allowed to mirror successful private schools where day-to-day affairs are run by a school principal alongside a board of governors.

Taking away central control of the running of schools from the Department of Education is the way ahead Mr. Furbert said this week as he fleshed out aspects of his recently announced vision for the Island?s future.

And the UBP would seek to return the office of the Attorney General to a clearly defined and politically impartial post. The current post holder is the Progressive Labour Party?s Senate leader Larry Mussenden.

Changes to portions of Bermuda?s legal framework, such as allowing the Department of Public Prosecutions the same rights of appeal against court judgements as are available to defence lawyers, would also be sought in a shake-up of Bermuda?s judicial processes.

Streamlining Government control in the areas of education and the judiciary were two key aspects Mr. Furbert and UBP House leader John Barritt spoke about as they addressed a St. David?s town hall meeting alongside local MP Suzann Roberts Holshouser.

And Mr. Furbert reiterated key pledges announced at his Party?s conference last month, including setting up a tourism authority separate from direct Government control as another area where he feels things would work better if direct control was removed.

The UBP leader again mentioned free glasses and prescription medication for seniors, and a shared equity system to allow those on lower incomes to find a route into home ownership.

He said the time has also come for political reform of the Island?s parliamentary system to give broader cross-party and public involvement at committee level.

Expanding on his vision for education, Mr. Furbert said: ?Private schools work because they have a headmaster and a board of governors that run them. We believe that public schools should also have a board of governors that has the power to fire a principal.?

He said having schools controlled tightly by the Department of Education was not working.

Licensed teachers in every class, an examination system that tests Bermudian students against global standards, and a requirement of schools to publicly report their performances were goals for the UBP, the meeting at St. David?s Primary School heard.

Opposition House leader Mr. Barritt spoke on matters of the judiciary and said the UBP thought it wrong when the PLP made the Attorney General a political appointment. He said the AG?s office needed to be outside the political arena for the judicial process and Department of Public Prosecutions to be safely beyond reproach or suspicion.

He added: ?The next thing we thought about is amending the Court of Appeal Act to allow the prosecution the same right to appeal a case where they do not like a decision.?

In Bermuda a prosecution team can only appeal on points of law not on matters of evidence and facts as is currently available to defence counsel. Mr Barritt also wants to see a fresh assessment of the ?double jeopardy? rule for suspects in murder cases.

As an example of where a change in the law might by applied, Mr. Barritt mentioned calls for the re-opening of the case of murdered Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton.

He said technological advances often brought fresh evidence to light many years after a court case but such evidence could not be brought back to court through a prosecution appeal because of Bermudian laws created in the 16th century.

On the issue of housing, UBP leader Mr. Furbert told the audience his party intended to build homes costing around $225,000 and offer them on a shared-equity basis to low income buyers who could purchase a percentage ownership share with the help of housing association financing and eventually take full ownership when they are able to pay the full original price.

He said the UBP had its housing plan prepared to implement when it is in power.

St. David?s MP Mrs. Roberts Holshouser, who is also Shadow Minister for Women?s Affairs and Child and Family Services, urged constituents to speak up and stand beside her when they sought to have an issue addressed.

She said that way Government could not dismiss a matter as simply an Opposition MP meddling but would have to recognise it as a genuine concern of the people.

She told the audience she was currently pursuing fair treatment for those in emergency housing at Southside having discovered the women and families on the top floor of the building are being charged higher rents than former Canadian Hotel residents recently been housed in the lower floors.