Government has laid its cards on the table. Bermuda should become independent.

This, of course, is no surprise. The Progressive Labour Party has always supported Independence, and so has Premier Alex Scott.

But he was somewhat coy about the Government's position while the Bermuda Independence Commission was doing its work.

The first hint that Mr. Scott now felt free to throw his weight behind Independence came at the Press conference for the release of the BIC report, when he cherry-picked those aspects of the report that supported sovereignty.

Now in the Throne Speech, which outlines Government's official policy, the position is put clearly: "Independence ... is a a natural progression for a mature jurisdiction such as Bermuda."

Government then promises to "educate" the public about the conclusions of the BIC through public meetings followed by a Green Paper and then a White Paper outlining Government's policy proposals for an independent Bermuda.

The speech then comes back to Independence at the end: It says Bermuda's greatest resource is its people, yet Bermuda's "role on the world stage" is performed by others — the UK Government on international political issues and the financial sector delivers Bermuda's external economic impact.

"It is the Government's view that the time has come for Bermuda to rehearse her own voice and to write her own script," it says. "Bermudians must be prepared to play many parts. They must expand their horizons ..."

Just why Government is bothering with a Green Paper since the BIC report is far from clear, especially when it has clearly made up its own mind and has, just as clearly, chosen to dwell solely on the one-sided treatment that the report gave to Independence.

But it may be that Mr. Scott and the Government are the only people left in Bermuda who still have the courage to quote from the report, given its glaring omissions and errors.

Even when the Government does quote from the report, it does so selectively, giving a further shine to the gloss that the BIC had already applied. The Throne Speech quotes the BIC report stating that if the process towards sovereignty is handled in an open and transparent manner, international companies "will not leave these shores".

A close reading of the international companies' submissions and of the transcripts of the BIC hearings with various international companies chiefs produces a slight but important difference in interpretation — the international companies said they would remain provided that, effectively, the status quo did too. Major changes in the way that Bermuda was governed would cause them serious doubt.

The Government also states that BIC said "the status and relationship with overseas territories would not be threatened". That is essentially true, in that Bermuda's relationships with major partners such as the US and the UK would presumably remain the same. What would change, which the BIC report glossed over and the Throne Speech ignored completely, was the question of the right to a British passport, which Bermudians would undoubtedly lose, along with the right to live and work anywhere in the European Union.

This is, as has been stated before, a major opportunity, especially for Bermuda's young people. And once it is lost, it would almost certainly be gone forever.

Based on the Throne Speech, the broad outlines of Government's Independence policy appeals to the hearts, but not the minds, of Bermudians. For some black Bermudians in particular, Independence represents a final act of freedom. The importance of that should not be discounted and deserves respect, not dismissal.

But a Government also has a duty to also acknowledge the very real practical drawbacks that could or will occur after Independence. It did not do that yesterday, and based on precedent, there is no reason to expect that it will do so in the future.