on its trip to the British Labour Party's annual conference.

The major question is: Was the trip really worth it? The second question is: Why is Government apparently afraid to answer the first question? On Friday, the Opposition accused Government of dodging questions on the spending raised by Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons by offering so many congratulations and condolences to members of the community that the statutory time for Parliamentary questions ran out.

This is an old Parliamentary trick which has been raised to an art form by the current Government.

That's too bad. The Government should be able to defend its spending and there do appear to have been some benefits from the trip.

Instead, the public is deprived of information on how its money is being spent by a Progressive Labour Party which promised transparency in its election campaign and has been anything but since.

Instead, valuable Parliamentary time is spent at the parish pump, serving little purpose beyond possibly improving some MPs chances of getting re-elected.

It would be better if Government was to take the questions seriously and justify its spending. It can argue that the trip enabled Ministers to cement ties with their UK opposite numbers and it does appear to have helped to get the UK Government behind Bermuda's efforts to get the bases cleaned up. If the UK's lobbying is successful, then the trip will have been worth it, although there is no evidence that the tourism booth -- rental cost $20,000 -- served any purpose.

Sadly, the public will never hear about the benefits, because there wasn't time for the questions to be asked and answered.

If MPs cannot get their house in order, then it might be sensible to change the rules of the House to ensure that questions will be answered during a separate time period.

But a rule change should not be necessary. MPs on both sides should have sufficient respect for their colleagues and their constituents to answer questions in the "sunshine of public scrutiny''.

Any government is elected to invest the public's money wisely and to provide the public with the services it deserves. Any opposition's job is to hold the Government accountable.

And if this Government refuses to account for its actions, then it cannot complain when it is criticised.