Bermuda has nothing to fear from a shake-up of Britain's legal system but should think about adopting its own reforms, says Opposition Legislative Affairs spokesman John Barritt.

Britain's Privy Council is traditionally the last court of appeal for cases in Bermuda but initial indications are that it will continue after the revamp.

Lord Falconer QC, who has just been been appointed to the newly created post of Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, told The Royal Gazette: "There is a right of appeal to the Privy Council that will continue until detailed discussions have taken place about what, if anything, should come in its place."

Mr. Barritt said he believed the Privy Council was not under threat in Prime Minister Tony Blair's constitutional reform.

Mr. Blair's Labour Party is planning to abolish the post of Lord Chancellor who currently has a role in the executive, legislature and judiciary of the nation.

His power to appoint judges will be handed to an independent judiciary committee.

A new Supreme Court will replaced the existing system of Law Lords operating as a committee of the House of Lords.

The Lord Chancellor's replacement will not sit on the Supreme Court.

Yesterday Mr. Barritt said Britain was addressing issues in its criminal justice system and Bermuda needed to do the same. "I give them full marks for grasping the nettle and introducing radical reform."

He said Britain was willing to overturn the double jeopardy rule which stopped people being tried for the same offence twice, something Mr. Barritt had backed here but Government had opposed.

The independent judiciary committee was also something Bermuda should adopt.

He said the Progressive Labour Party Government had been neglectful in modernising Bermuda's legal system except for creating a separate Director of Public Prosecutions which he said had not been the answer.

Promises to streamline the Magistrates' Court by allowing people to pay for minor fines without spending time in court had been shelved lamented Mr. Barritt.