Party's blueprint for the new session of Parliament.

And she accused Government of making promises in its Throne Speech -- but failing to deliver the goods.

But Premier Pamela Gordon punched back and said the Progressive Labour Party were peddling "doom and gloom'' in a bid to distract the voters from Bermuda's many success stories.

And she added there was a difference between a Throne Speech -- a broad outline -- and a manifesto, which lays out plans in detail.

But Ms Smith said: "The Throne Speech this year seems to be a mixture of old, unfulfilled promises, new promises and a piecemeal and cosmetic co-opting of some of the Progressive Labour Party's platform planks.

"However, it lacks the real promise of a Goverment committed to action. The speech appeared to include something for everyone and has already been described as an `electioneering speech' which raises many issues but seems to leave them there -- suspended in mid-air.'' Ms Smith said examples of leftover pledges recycled for this year were the establishment of Bermuda's position on franchises, a community centre for the West End, a Green Paper on traffic improvements and pensions legislation.

She added a bill to legalise the seizure of assets from convicted criminals, an improved Building Code, a law to permit roadside breath testing and a drugs recovery unit had also all been promised before.

And she said undertakings to insist on equal pay for equal work was included in last year's speech.

She said: "The people of Bermuda must be sadly disappointed in a speech that talks of action plans with no time-lines for action -- just more promises.'' She added that the prison population had increased while the number of small businesses had decreased.

Ms Smith also called for a research department -- funded with a mix of public and private money -- to be set up at Bermuda College to carry out work on the problem of repeat offenders and other aspects of the criminal justice system.

On the long-term residents problem, Ms Smith said many Bermudians were "angered and alarmed'' by what she claimed was a signal from Government that it was thinking about a return to "wholesale issuing'' of work permits.

She also called for extra immigration officers to police work permit violations and for the closure of job categories to non-Bermudians where qualified, unemployed Bermudians are available.

Ms Gordon, however, went on the offensive seconds after Ms Smith finished her speech.

And she poured scorn on PLP claims that the Throne Speech was the UBP dressed up in the Opposition's clothes.

Ms Gordon said: "It's always the Opposition's baby. We always hear we steal the ideas and the concepts.

"According to the Opposition, if they were the Government of the day, Bermuda would be absolutely perfect and Bermuda would be spot on. We hear of the programmes and policies they want put in place -- all of them cost money but we never hear the true way the Opposition is going to raise money.'' She said Government was aware that the increasingly large proportion of elderly people worried about "making ends meet''. She added Ministers knew cash was needed -- but that the UBP would be careful to ensure it could afford its plans and keep the books balanced.

Ms Gordon added that people seemed to be unaware that Bermuda's tourism industry now operated in a much more competitive environment. She said that a joint public/private Bermuda Tourism Authority to boost investment and create partnerships with a vested interest in the success of the industry was the way forward.