Walking the plank: Bermuda leaders, looking to put their stamp on a unified nation, push for independence. Critics claim the governing Progressive Labour Party is committing political suicide. Neither voters nor big business support independence. One CEO says his firm is ready to move to Ireland should unfavorable political winds buffet his corporation

Risk & Insurance, March, 2005 by Roger Crombie

Without revealing his position on independence, another Bermuda CEO. IPC Holdings' Jim Bryce, told Risk & Insurance[R] last year that should Bermuda's insurance companies feel the urge to relocate, many companies would only need to put their management and some CD-ROMs on an airplane, and they would be able to start again elsewhere the next morning. The reality would unfold a little more slowly, and be a little more regulation-bound than that, but the end result would probably be much as Bryce described.

No other jurisdiction in the world offers today the mix of advantages that Bermuda enjoys. The insurance sector, if it ever felt it had to leave Bermuda, might indeed migrate to Dublin, or dissipate to several locations, but it would do so with great reluctance, and only if all means of staying put were exhausted.

Perhaps for these reasons, the Council of Hemispheric Affairs, a Washington D.C.-based independent think tank, weighed in on the subject in December. "Premier Scott's failure to adjust to the hard fact that the majority of Bermudians have shown no inclination for independence is a handicap which could seriously jeopardize his political career," said the Council's Ashley Rasmussen.

There are some who want independence. They include members of the ruling PLP--"every single one of (the party hierarchy), without exception, wants it," former PLP senator Calvin Smith said recently--and probably (British Prime Minister) Tony Blair.

Britain would not object to Bermuda becoming an independent nation, if it were done correctly, says Gov. Vereker. (For more information, please read sidebar below.)

"Each of the remaining territories has the right to remain British if that is what they want," said Vereker. "In return we expect, and are committed to ensuring, high standards of probity in governance, the maintenance of law and order, sustainable economic development, and adherence to relevant international agreements, including those which relate to offshore financial services. But we will give every help and encouragement to those territories who wish to proceed to independence, where that is a realistic option."

The PLP has had independence as the central plank of its political program since it was first written in 1963. Successive leaders have bayed for independence, largely from the wilderness, since the PLP was not elected until 1998. Both PLP premiers who have served since then have found reasons for keeping independence off the agenda in the party's first two terms of office, but now the leadership has decided that the time is right. Although Premier Scott says he "would not force independence on the people of Bermuda," he has made plain that his government wants it, and will have it, sooner or later, once people have been educated as to its benefits.

BENEFITS APLENTY

What are the benefits? Bermuda already has its own flag (albeit with the Union Jack in the corner), and is self-governing in most areas other than security and the airport. "Independence will bring us together under one flag, one theme, and one commitment, one country, one abiding belief that this point of geography in the Atlantic is our nation," Premier Scott says. The move could even help tourism, he says, since as a full member of the United Nations, Bermuda might host U.N. delegations.