The United Bermuda Party will be attending today's extra sitting of Parliament ? but under protest.

Shadow transport Minister Jamahl Simmons said yesterday Government had failed to reach a compromise date with the Opposition and that the only piece of legislation to be debated today would be the GPS bill .

"The PLP Government ? with no warning ? announced that it would be holding a special session of Parliament on July 1 with the controversial GPS bill as the only item on the order paper," Mr. Simmons said.

"You have to question why a Progressive Labour Party Government that has struggled to produce legislation over the current Parliamentary session finds this particular bill so important and so pressing."

He said when he first learned about the rare Monday sitting of the House, he hoped Government would be bringing legislation forward to do with housing or the rising level of crime and gang violence.

"To learn that the GPS bill is the only thing that the PLP intends to deal with considering all of the promises they have made and the promises that people are still waiting to see delivered, is despicable and shameful," Mr. Simmons said.

He said the House has debated GPS three times already and blasted Government for not once dealing with a law regarding vehicular manslaughter or tougher sentences for drunk drivers.

Considering the condition on Bermuda's roads, he called these issues far more pressing than GPS.

Mr. Simmons questioned Government's real motives for only reading one bill.

"Who really benefits from the fast tracking of this legislation?" he asked. "Certainly not the people who were promised affordable housing. Certainly not the people waiting in vain for the PLP to stop being soft on criminals. Why have our people been put on the back burner while GPS goes to the top of the PLPs priorities? All I can say is that their behaviour clearly shows that their values and priorities are out of touch with the values and priorities of the average Bermudian."

Government Whip Ottiwell Simmons could not be reached for comment last night.