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Created: December 05, 2022 04:00 PM
Scott Pearman of the One Bermuda Alliance (file photograph)
The One Bermuda Alliance has accused the government of deliberately picking fights with the UK to push its independence agenda.
The OBA’s spokesman for legal and home affairs, Scott Pearman, spoke after a government senator blamed Whitehall for setting government policy on environmental issues.
in a column in Royal Gazette Last week, government senator and junior minister for social development and seniors Lindsay Simmons claimed Bermuda’s “colonial status” forced the government to sign up to international treaties ratified by the UK.
In response to an outcry from the island’s fishermen that 20 per cent of the island’s waters are designated as a protected zone free from fishing, Ms Simmons said the government had no choice but to introduce the policy – as it was under orders from London to do so.
That claim appears to contradict the views of other ministers, who have long taken credit for Bermuda’s green credentials.
Walter Robben, Deputy Premier and Minister of Home Affairs, has attended several conferences on environmental issues over the past year, and has claimed that Bermuda can lead the way in conservation policy.
Mr Robben has also stated that he is “passionate” about environmental issues.
But Mr Pearman accused the government of “wanting to have it both ways” – praising itself for environmental initiatives when addressing the green lobby, but denying responsibility for the initiatives when challenged by anti-conservationists.
Mr Pearman said: “On the one hand, Deputy Premier Walter Robben appears at the Youth Climate Summit to demonstrate his environmental credentials.
“Yet when Bermudian fishermen challenge the PLP’s marine plan, PLP Senator Lindsay Simmons blames the policy on ‘the whims of the British government.’
“Bermudians will not be fooled. The PLP wants to pick an unnecessary fight with the UK to cobble together a better argument for independence. This PLP tactic is very clear.
Mr Pearman said the current spat was one of a series of confrontations planned by the government to undermine the island’s relationship with the UK.
He pointed out that Whitehall provided the island with vaccines when the coronavirus reached its shores in 2020 – only for David Burt to describe the life-saving drugs as “trinkets”.
“The UK fortunately did not respond to his rudeness,” Mr Pearman said.
“Then the Prime Minister pushes through with his doomed Cannabis Bill, while his own Attorney General warns Parliament from the outset that the UK is forced by international convention to reject it.
“Now the PLP want our fishermen to think the marine plan is the UK’s fault?
“The Deputy Premier must explain to Senator Simmons whose decision this really is. Given the difficulties our island faces, we need to nurture our international relationships. If things get worse, we may need it.
“The British bashing of the PLP needs to stop.”
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