Government has turned down a request by the United Nations Decolonisation Committee to visit Bermuda, saying the visit would be inappropriate as Bermuda enters a debate on Independence.

The UN committee made the request to the Cabinet Office at the suggestion of the British Government, which has proposed that Bermuda be taken off a UN list of 16 non-self-governing territories.

“The committee did make a formal request to the Bermuda Government,” Government spokeswoman Beverle Lottimore said yesterday. “Government considered it and said ‘not at this time'.”

Ms Lottimore said that because Bermuda is beginning its own debate on Independence, “we don't want it (the debate) catapulted into something it is not, so it was declined”.

She added: “Because this is such a sensitive issue, we need to have a debate among ourselves to get clarity and understanding of the issues. They need to be discussed by us without outside influences. Once we decide how we wish to proceed, then we should consult outside.”

Ms Lottimore said she was certain the UN committee had sufficient information on Bermuda to make a decision on whether Bermuda should be taken off the list without a visit to the Island.

Bermuda's decision may come as a blow to Britain, which described the proposal for a visit to Bermuda as the “most positive recent development” to come from the UK Government's informal cooperation with the UN Decolonisation Committee, whose activities it had shunned until last year.

Bermuda is one of 16 territories listed as being non-self-governing. The vast majority of the 16 are administered by the UK. The UK argued at a Decolonisation Committee conference held last year in Anguilla that Bermuda should not be listed because of its advanced level of self-government.

British representative Roy Osborne, the deputy head of the Overseas Territories Department at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said the committee should consider sending a delegation to Bermuda to decide for itself if Bermuda was ready for Independence.

The Royal Gazette understands that the Committee had hoped to visit by the end of the year.

Mr. Osborne said at last year's summit meeting that Bermuda was as close to Independence as it “could be without taking that final step”.

“So I don't think describing Bermuda as under colonial administration comes anywhere close to reflecting the reality of the situation which makes me wonder what Bermuda is doing on the (UN) list,” he said.

Mr. Osborne, the highest ranking UK Government official to address the decolonisation conference, called on the gathering to find ways of speeding up the decolonisation process but insisted that his country's policies on self-determination had not changed.

“It is not for me to suggest ways in which to take forward the decolonisation agenda,” he said. “But it does seem to me that we cannot continue, year after year, with resolutions that fail to show significant progress.

“Surely it should be an objective, and be possible, to remove some Territories from the list each year?”

He suggested that the Committee send a delegation to Bermuda to decide for themselves whether Bermuda was ready for Independence.

Asked if delisting by the UN committee would have an influence on how people voted on Independence, Ms Lottimore said: “It could, but Bermuda should not be pushing the envelope for the committee to make a decision.”