voting record of Mr. Stuart Hayward, the Independent MP for Pembroke West Central. Clearly it all depends on how you count Mr. Hayward's votes. Those who seek advantage by making it appear that Mr. Hayward supports the ruling United Bermuda Party, counted every vote, even those pro-forma votes where the Opposition and the Government voted together. What matters is major, controversial bills where a vote is valuable and where major decisions are made. Mr. Hayward's supporters claim in begging letters that he voted with the UBP 85 percent of the time. Mr. Hayward says it was closer to 93 percent of the time. The fact remains that when it was an important issue and his vote would indicate strong support for the UBP, Mr. Hayward exercised his independence and appears to have supported the ruling party only 37 percent of the time.

We don't think counting the votes matters very much. The fact appears to be that, while he ran as an independent, Mr. Hayward was and is, basically, a PLP supporter. He has never hidden his PLP leanings. He has an intense interest in the environment and a strong political leaning to the Progressive Labour Party. The two are not incompatible.

The important factor is that during the last few years in the House of Assembly it has become clear that Mr. Hayward cannot achieve very much because he has virtually no support. The PLP's Mr. Julian Hall shouts across the House, "We don't want him.'' The UBP clearly does not want him in the House in what they consider to be their seat.

There are people who feel with some justification that there is room in the House for an independent voice to keep people honest. There is value to that argument. But, of course, whether that works very much depends on the personality of the person and whether the person knows how to make an independent point effectively. To make yourself heard without party support, you have to have the charisma to get others to listen. We do not think anyone listens to a PLP sheep in the clothing of an independent lamb.

Mr. Hayward once had great credibility when he spoke and wrote on the environment. When he politicised himself, he lost his credibility as an honest defender of the environment and became just another person using a worthy cause for personal gain. In any case, the Bermudian public is always suspicious of a person who uses politics as the basis to make a living. We do not think very many people are listening now even when Mr. Hayward speaks on the environment. As he rises, the House empties. That may be a shame because he was very effective on the environment.

We have some real problems with the soliciting of funds for Mr. Hayward. It is true that the three political parties solicit funds to run campaigns, sometimes very large amounts of money. Mr. Hayward is a party of one but he has no party structure. The money collected goes toward the political career of one person. We have some problems with that because we think his costs must be minimal.