through Constitutional changes with no discussion -- not even the formality of a House of Assembly debate -- should send a chill down the spines of every voter.

Ms Gordon told this newspaper that the Opposition had learned when it visited the Foreign Office in London last week that Government had planned to seek an Order in Council for the conversion to single seat constituencies and a reduction in the number of seats.

The basis for this, apparently, was that the Progressive Labour Party had promised to make the change in its manifesto, which was published more than two years ago.

Baroness Scotland, the junior Minister responsible for Bermuda in the Foreign Office, deserves credit for rejecting the plan.

Still, this revelation shows why Bermudians should demand that the Constitutional changes proposed by the Government be discussed at a constitutional conference and be voted on at a referendum.

This is not to say that the changes proposed by the Government are necessarily wrong. There are good arguments for and against single seat constituencies and reducing the number of MPs.

That's the whole point. The arguments have not yet had a good airing and probably won't in a single debate in the House of Assembly, even if it goes into the early hours.

To argue that the PLP's proposals did receive an airing during the General Election campaign -- or that the PLP was elected solely on the basis of Constitutional reform, is an insult to the voters of this country.

The Royal Gazette has been told that the Premier's Green Paper was supposed to be a White Paper until the last minute when the Government (or at least those members of the Government in the know) changed course.

That would explain why, in contrast to Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox's admirably complete Green Paper on Long Term Residents, the Premier's Paper is thin both in arguments and options.

What MP could go to his or her constituents today and say with a straight face that they support the Green Paper on the basis of its content? And what MP could tell his or her constituents that they do not have the right to vote on the biggest constitutional change proposed since 1966? It is hard to believe that the Government is afraid to debate the issue, yet that is what the evasion which have clouded these proposals since the beginning, suggests.

In February, Premier Smith told Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt that no Constitutional changes were planned this year. It now appears that she was in talks with the Foreign Office at that time and it cannot be denied that six months later she tabled her Green Paper.

Again unlike the Green Paper on Long Term Residents, no public meetings on Constitutional reform have been held, and seemingly none are planned.

If Bermudian voters care about this issue -- and they should -- they should either call for a constitutional conference.