United Bermuda Party leader Kim Swan would have won with his attempt to stave off Corporations legislation — if only he'd called a vote a few minutes earlier — according to Progressive Labour Party insiders.

Shortly after lunch on Friday, the PLP was struggling so badly for numbers in the House of Assembly it feared it would be unable to stop Mr. Swan's motion to delay the Municipalities Reform Act for six months.

Municipalities Minister Zane DeSilva and Sports Minister Glenn Blakeney were among those said to be away from the House.

But by the time Mr. Swan had finished his speech and a count was called, enough PLP members had returned for the motion to lose 13 votes to 11.

Mr. Swan yesterday argued he timed the vote to give it the best chance possible, and pointed out he also needed to liaise with Bermuda Democratic Alliance and Independent Darius Tucker to try to secure numbers.

"They could have killed that bill if Kim hadn't talked so long," said a PLP source yesterday.

"We probably only had nine or ten people in the room. But Kim went on and on, and by the time the vote came we had enough to win."

Mr. Swan was incredulous at the suggestion yesterday, telling The Royal Gazette: "Utter nonsense. I called it when I had to. I had to make sure my own numbers were in place too.

"I was working with other people outside of my team as well. Some people asked for a little bit of time."

The bill is expected in the Senate after Cup Match, with Attorney General Kim Wilson saying she doesn't believe it's strictly a money bill according to the Constitution.

It's thought at least one of the Independent senators has doubts about the legislation, but to fail it would need all three to be against it, as well as the three UBP senators.