The United Bermuda Party has launched a scathing attack on Government sponsored focus groups, accusing the ruling party of spending taxpayers dollars for "their own political purposes".

The outburst was prompted by Tuesday's story where concerns were raised about the "inappropriately political" nature of certain tasks in the new forums, which some believe should be confined simply to community related issues like housing or health care. The tasks under the spotlight include "rate the Premier's performance on a scale of 1-5" and "use one word to describe how the party is doing".

Organised by local market research company Research.bm and commissioned for Cabinet by the Department of Communications and Information, people are contacted at random, asked a series of "screening questions" to determine suitability and then paid a participants fee of $100. All current and former politicians, members of the civil service and the media are automatically excluded.

The crux of the row centres around the view held by some that the ruling Progressive Labour Party is gathering information at the expense of the taxpayer which it is unlikely to make public and use partially in its election planning ? an exercise which should be funded out of PLP coffers and not Government's. "This is a ruthless exploitation of tax dollars and civil servants by the PLP and is yet another example of the shameless abuse of power and privilege which has been the hallmark of this administration," UBP spokesman Jamahl Simmons said yesterday.

"The first responsibility of any Government is to seek to improve the condition of their citizens and in this instance the PLP has obviously put the needs of the people second to their need to hang on to power. Yet while the PLP couldn't find the money to help the Salvation Army or the seniors at the Bermuda Housing Trust, they somehow have managed to scrape together thousands of taxpayers dollars for their own political purposes."

"Make no mistake," he continued, "this political information gathering exercise won't come cheap. Between the polling, the focus groups and the reporting process, the cost to Bermudians could reach tens of thousands of dollars. Money that could be better spent on the people's needs and not the PLP."

Is it not ironic, Mr. Simmons further questioned, that a party which has told people for years that they are the "people's party" are now spending thousands of tax dollars to find out what the people want?

"These focus groups do not benefit anyone but the Progressive Labour Party," Mr. Simmons concluded.

"And it's the PLP that should pay for it. All political parties engage in polling and other forms of information gathering, but they are supposed to pay for it themselves and not stick the taxpayer with the bill. The exploitation of tax dollars and civil servants in a futile effort to cling to power is despicable. The hefty bill that the Premier expects the taxpayer to pay needs to be sent where it belongs ? down to Alaska Hall."

Government Communications Director Beverle Lottimore, the person behind the focus groups, did not return phone calls yesterday ? although she was vigorous in her defence of them earlier in the week.

"They are a highly effective vehicle through which Government can communicate directly with the people of Bermuda and acquaint itself with their thoughts," she said.

"When the Premier wakes up in the morning he does not go to the offices of the PLP but rather to Cabinet office to deal with the affairs of Government and the country. He is the leader of our country, the one we look up to for direction and the one we are going to hold accountable. If he is doing something the public does not approve of, somebody needs to let him know. Communicating through the media was a flawed process, Mrs. Lottimore argued, as "something is always lost" and the coverage is sometimes unbalanced or biased. "The public deserves better than that and (through the focus groups) I hope they will get better than that."

But despite this being a taxpayer funded initiative, Mrs. Lottimore said she was not able "to give a clear answer" as to whether the final report, due for completion at the end of February, would be released to the public.