Premier Ewart Brown took another swipe at the UK Foreign Affairs Committee during the first session of Parliament, claiming its report on the British Overseas Territories "jeopardised" their reputations.

Dr. Brown, who was critical of the report when it was released in July, told the House of Assembly on Friday that his fellow territory leaders were equally concerned and the issue was raised during the tenth meeting of the Overseas Territories Consultative Council (OTCC) in London last month.

"The respective heads of government were unanimous in their concern at the impact of the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the UK's House of Commons," he said.

"In a series of sweeping generalities based in some cases on inaccurate information, the reputations of territories were jeopardised by the report."

He told MPs: "I was pleased to lead the call for a more robust defence of the territories from the UK Government. In the case of Bermuda, it was extremely puzzling to me that the report made little reference to the elected Government's position on most issues, but seemed more sympathetic to the Opposition."

The FAC's report contained a raft of recommendations for Bermuda, including phasing out conscription, a review of voting rights for long-term residents and the outlawing of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The document also singled out the Island as needing to strengthen its transparency measures and to stop holding parliamentary committee meetings in secret.

Turks and Caicos — whose Premier Michael Misick is a friend of Dr. Brown's — came in for the worst criticism, with the British MPs who conducted the review describing themselves as very concerned about serious allegations of corruption.

UK Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay told The Royal Gazette earlier this year he did not accept the Premier's criticism that it was a one-sided report.

"We probably spent more time with the Ministers than with the Opposition party. We only had one meeting with the Opposition party," he said.

Dr. Brown told the House yesterday that his visit to the OTCC meeting in October was a productive one which saw Bermuda praised for its leadership in the financial arena.

But he said it would be prudent for him to "sound a note of warning" about something. "In the course of this OTCC I perceived the growing discomfort of the UK Government with respect to the overseas territories meeting the standards of certain treaties to which the UK is enjoined through the European Union," he said.

"Cultural norms and political sensibilities appeared to have little sway when raised by territory leaders as reason for not amending local legislation to accord with some of these sensitive areas.

"With this in mind it seems to me that we may not be far away from the UK Government using those legislative mechanisms at its disposal to impose on territories, standards and laws which may not be desired by their people."

Dr. Brown referred a request from The Royal Gazette for more detail on the subject to his press secretary, who said he would look into the topic today.