Finance Minister Paula Cox has claimed the Opposition used "fiction" in an effort to score "a cheap political point" in their comments on the downgrade of Bermuda Government bonds by credit rating agency Moody's.

Ms Cox said that safeguarding Bermuda's financial reputation should come before party politics and invited the United Bermuda Party to support her and "play on the same team".

Last week, Acting Shadow Finance Minister Pat Gordon-Pamplin said when the Island went through a recession from 1991 to 1993, it did not suffer a downgrade. "Indeed, through the course of that prolonged downturn, Bermuda gained and maintained the double-A sovereign debt rating (AA) that Ms Cox has now just lost," Ms Gordon-Pamplin added.

In a statement released on Friday, Ms Cox said: "The truth is that Bermuda did not have a bond rating during 1991-93. Therefore there was nothing to downgrade.

"The first time ever that Bermuda had a sovereign rating was June 1994. Moody's assigned an Aa1 rating to a Bermuda Government debt issue on June 10, 1994. It is quite pathetic that the Opposition would invent the fiction of a prior rating in an attempt to score a cheap political point."

Ms Gordon-Pamplin said that excessive Government borrowing and rising public debt had been noted by Moody's and so the Government should not blame the downgrade on global economic factors.

"Moody's made it very clear that the tipping point for the downgrade from Aa1 to Aa2 was linked to what they saw as the Island's vulnerability to external shocks in these difficult times," Ms Cox said.

"While the Bermuda brand does have cachet, it is truly naive and fatuous to suggest that Bermuda is uniquely positioned so it is unaffected by the effects of a faltering global economy when other countries have been affected.

"However what is constructive to note is the continuing affirmation of the stable outlook for Bermuda and the solid positioning of our Aa2 rating.

"Some issues really should be above politics. Bermuda has a stable political environment and I intend to continue to do all I can to ensure it remains that way and to safeguard our reputation.

"I invite the Opposition to support me in these efforts. On the national front at least we should be seen to be playing on the same team and not engaging in petty political partisan warfare which does nothing to further Bermuda's national interest and I am sure, on sober and mature reflection, my colleague Ms Gordon-Pamplin would concur."

Ms Cox said that Bermuda's Aa2 rating was two notches beneath the top Aaa rating on Moody's scale of 19 rankings, from C upwards.