A front-page story in yesterday's paper incorrectly quoted National Liberal Party spokesman Graeme Outerbridge as stating that the party would support the removal of capital punishment on its own "with British arm-twisting''. It should have stated "without British arm-twisting''.

The National Liberal Party turned party poopers yesterday in the wake of a new deal from the UK for its colonies and called for Bermuda to declare Independence.

And party chiefs accused the Opposition Progressive Labour Party of wrecking the Island's 1995 Referendum chance to go it alone -- and added the Country should have cut its UK links "years ago.'' Graeme Outerbridge, spokesman for the Country's smallest party, said: "Internal political fighting has ensured that we have lost our way on this simple step.

"The PLP boycott of the Referendum was the key blow to the heart of the Independence movement.

"It's unlikely that Independence will even be in their 1998 election platform.'' PLP leader Jennifer Smith did not return phone calls from The Royal Gazette.

Mr. Outerbridge, likely to contest a seat at the next General Election, was speaking after MPs on both sides of the political divide welcomed a ground-breaking speech by UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook at a meeting of the Dependent Territories Association in London yesterday.

Mr. Cook promised the issue of full British passports for all 170,000 citizens of the remaining dozen or so Dependent Territories, to be renamed Overseas Territories, would be considered "sympathetically and urgently.'' He also asked the Dependent Territories to introduce world-standard financial regulations to combat white collar crime and money laundering by 1999.

And he called for human rights legislation to end capital punishment and birching throughout the remnants of the British Empire.

But both he and Baroness Symons, soon to become Minister for the Overseas Territories in a Foreign Office departmental shake-up, insisted the citizenship issue and the need for clean financial hands and more human rights were not linked.

The Dependent Territories Association meeting has been hailed as a massive personal triumph for Premier Pamela Gordon, who outshone other heads of government during the one-day conference.

But Mr. Outerbridge said: "The NLP concern is mostly about this legislative linkage and the potential impact on our small, fragile economy.

"While the NLP would support the removal of capital punishment on its own with British arm-twisting, we see the issue of full British citizenship as strictly a British problem and one they should have acted upon when they gave the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar full British status.'' Mr. Outerbridge tore into the UK's record on its dealing with its colonies, claiming that the UK had never thought of its Dependencies as equals.

And he said that the UK had abandoned millions of Hong Kong Chinese holders of the same passport as Bermudians to Communist China.

Mr. Outerbridge said: "You can die for their Queen but you have less legal standing to be in England than former enemies. It's little wonder that Australia is in the process of dropping the Queen as its Head of State.'' He added that Bermuda was at a watershed in its history and should not make the wrong choice.

Mr. Outerbridge said: "Bermuda is in a position to continue either towards nationhood or closer links with Britain -- we should therefore become independent.'' Labour and Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness, who attended the London conference with the Premier, said Independence was not raised in London and was ruled out in Government's official submission to the UK.

He added: "What we would want to do is completely explore what's being offered by the UK Government and, in our view, it's being offered in a very genuine spirit.

"We believe that the UK Government is in fact trying to put in place a modern partnership and they have displayed a great deal of respect for Bermuda's present Constitutional position, it's role as a financial centre and as a responsible Country.'' And Mr. Edness added: "Insofar as requests for some regulatory reform, we have no fears because we believe we are ahead of everybody else in this regard.'' CONFERENCE CON IMMIGRATION IMM