Independence remains a key commitment for Ewart Brown ? even though he will place it on the backburner if elected.

He said Bermuda was economically sound and governmentally stable yet lacked self confidence.

He said: ?Some do not believe in ourselves or our ability to self-govern. Some do not believe that the world believes in our ability to self govern.

?Some believe if we detach ourselves from Mother England we will fail. I strongly disagree.?

But he said as leader he had to listen to all of the people.

?While I see no impediment to seeking independence at this time, I know that independence is a journey that we have to persuade a majority of the people to embrace before we begin.

?So as leader, independence would not be a focal point for me initially, although it would remain a principle objective.?

He said he would not give up but would spend the time and energy making Bermudians more comfortable with making the ?grand step?.

He later told ?We will be working quietly and not engaging in the public debates about it. I will pull back from that.?

But he said that wasn?t an attempt to shut out the public.

?The nation will know about it. I think we need to revise the way we manage that. I think our approach so far has been a little muted and I think there should be a rearrangement as to how we roll it out.

?There are some people who say there is no room for emotion in the independence struggle but I have problems with that.

?I believe until Bermudians are excited about independence they won?t seek it. I would like to devise ways to inject more excitement into the whole issue of independence.

?If people can get concerned and excited then it makes it easier for the Government to move forward.

?The main thing is we have to, week by week, capture more support for independence.?

However a recent poll shows opposition to independence falling ? to 57 percent of those polled, compared to 70 percent who opposed the move in the last poll in July.

Asked what people were afraid of Dr. Brown said: ?Some people are just fearful, they think our security will be challenged so we will put that to rest. We will get there.?

He said the people of Bermuda were wise enough to be arbiters of their own fate and that not seeking autonomy was unnatural and self-limiting but the majority would have to be persuaded.