United Bermuda Party Leader Kim Swan yesterday said he was not surprised by Wayne Furbert's resignation from the party, but vowed it would change at its own pace.

Mr. Furbert, a former chairman and leader of the UBP, told colleagues at Monday night's caucus he was quitting in frustration that the party was unwilling to change enough to have a chance of winning power.

The MP, who held marginal Hamilton West at the last election, will sit as an independent.

He has stated he will not contest the next election on his own and has not ruled out joining the Progressive Labour Party.

He is now consulting constituents about what he should do next.

Yesterday Mr. Swan said: "I don't think anyone was surprised because he has been marching to the beat of his own drum for some time and his announcement was in keeping with that."

He said Mr. Furbert had a difference of opinion with the group, not so much over change, but over the pace of change.

Mr. Swan added: "And while I sympathise with his frustration that the change agenda has not moved quickly enough, we are not giving up because of it.

"We are committed to meaningful change and it remains our focus moving forward.

"In the meantime, we wish Mr. Furbert well as he sorts out his political future."

The resignation comes as a blow to the UBP just days after it avoided potential disaster in the Southampton West Central by-election and pulled off a healthy win.

Shadow Attorney General Mark Pettingill said he was disappointed Mr. Furbert had left.

Asked if it made the UBP's task of winning the next General Election all that much harder he said: "I don't think so, no man is an island."

Mr. Pettingill said he had been encouraged by the change going on within the UBP and the win in Southampton West Central, which mirrored the result in last year's December election.

And Shadow Immigration spokesman Shawn Crockwell said the Opposition could not take Mr. Furbert's stance and just "give up" on the reform project.

He said: "We have to work hard to come up with a solution to make the Opposition viable."

Asked if he thought Mr. Furbert was going to switch to the PLP he said: "I don't think so but you never know what is going to happen in politics.

"But he holds pretty firm conservative views and he's been very critical of the PLP administration.

"It would make no sense to undermine 40 years of service and all those things he stood for."

Mr. Furbert, who had been a member of the UBP for 40 years, has said time was up for the UBP in its current guise as not enough blacks were willing to support it.

And he predicted the party would lose more seats at the next election, including his own.

Mr. Furbert is expected to make his resignation speech in Parliament today.