The House of Assembly was thrown into chaos last night when the Opposition walked out in protest and sparked a fresh liar storm.

Opposition whip Walter Lister accused Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness of lying to Parliament -- minutes after every member of the Progressive Labour Party had stood up and left the chamber.

The Opposition benches were cleared at 10.35 p.m. when the Government objected to a debate being moved by PLP MP Renee Webb.

Speaker Ernest DeCouto was already half way through a vote on whether the motion should go ahead or be scrapped from the order paper altogether.

Mr. Edness had told the House the United Bermuda Party members did not want to respond to the motion because they had not been given enough notice.

He also denied PLP claims that they had not been informed that the House was due to retire for Christmas on the night.

Ms Webb's motion proposed a letter should be sent to the UK Government, claiming it was unconstitutional to stop Bermudians with dual citizenship from sitting in the House or the Senate.

Mr. Edness told the House: "We haven't been notified about this motion. We did inform the Opposition whip that the House would go down today.'' He offered to have the motion carried over but the Opposition objected, lost the vote and the debate was dropped from the order paper.

The Opposition exodus, led by Shadow Finance Minister Eugene Cox and Shadow Human Affairs Minister Dr. Ewart Brown, left one half of the House completely empty for the final 15 minutes of the Parliamentary Session.

Only Deputy Speaker Stanley Lowe, a PLP MP, returned later to issue Christmas greetings to the Speaker and Governor and their families.

As they walked out, Opposition members openly shouted criticisms at the Speaker, Premier and Mr. Edness.

Mr. Lister returned to the door of the chamber minutes after the fracas, with a photocopy of a letter given to him by Government whip Rick Spurling on Wednesday.

Mr. Lister told a Royal Gazette reporter: "Quinton Edness lied to this House when he said he informed me that we would not be meeting next week.

"You have got a job to do when you write your story.'' He then produced the letter, which said House meetings were "currently planned'' for December 5 and December 12.

Mr. Edness, flanked by Mr. Spurling, said: "Mr. Lister is wrong to call any member of this House a liar.

"We did communicate to them and they did not communicate to us that they were going to take up this motion tonight.

"Their plan was to take the Government by surprise and debate this particular motion and we were not prepared to do that.

"They exercised irresponsibility when they walked out of this House. If Mr.

Lister is going to call me a liar he could be liable, because I don't believe he said that in the chamber.'' Mr. Spurling added: "I handed that letter to Mr. Lister on Wednesday and it said the meetings for the 5th and 12th were `currently planned'.

"I told him that if we were able to get through our business on Wednesday and today we would probably not sit on the 12th.

"I also asked the Opposition whip this afternoon at 3.30 p.m. whether Renee Webb would proceed with her motion and he said he did not know.

"At 5.50 tonight he informed me that she was proceeding and that was the first I learned of it. I told them at the time that we objected to it.'' Mr. Edness and Mr. Spurling said Ms Webb could reintroduce her motion when the House reconvenes on February 6.

Premier Pamela Gordon and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Alex Scott are already embroiled in a "liar'' row, with Mr. Scott threatening to sue unless he receives an apology.