A former premier said yesterday he was encouraged to hear a report was submitted by an international adviser on self-governance to show options for Bermuda.

Alex Scott added that findings from the Bermuda Independence Commission, appointed by him in 2004, meant that the groundwork was already laid.

He was speaking after it was revealed in the Throne Speech that a report titled Assessment of Self-Governance Sufficiency in Conformity with Internationally-recognised Standards, by Carlyle Corbin, was commissioned and received by the Government.

It was said that the document considered the “full range of self-government options for Bermuda”.

Mr Scott, who was a Progressive Labour Party premier from 2003 to 2006, told The Royal Gazette: “It’s encouraging because now it would appear that the Government of the day, if I understand it … is formalising once again an approach to the issue of sovereignty or independence.

“I think the language is important. We always used to refer to it as independence; in my view there are no longer any independent countries, they are interdependent."

He added: “It sounds like this is a healthy step and, matter of fact, all the groundwork has been done.

“The Government would just have to update it some, from BIC — revisit BIC and update it.

“It’s timely because of the historic event that occurred with the Royal Family.

“This is a point in time when I think many territories will be reviewing and revising their relationship with the UK and it’s not an anti-UK notion, it is a pro-Bermudian undertaking because we will have to, and we should interact with Great Britain whether we continue as a colony or we become a sovereign entity.”

Dr Corbin talked in March about a report he wrote for the Virgin Islands, where a Constitutional Review was announced last year.

In a presentation posted on Facebook, he said that the self-governance assessment captured “the preparation of the territory for the attainment of full self-government”.

Dr Corbin added: “It also captures the nature of the compliance of the administering power [the United Kingdom] with its international legal responsibilities under the United Nations charter, particularly Article 73b, to prepare the territory for full self-government.

“The idea has been the preparation to leading the territory to one of the three options — independence, free association or integration.”

He said: “It is not acceptable, in terms of the conclusion of the assessment, to project the current arrangement as a legitimate end goal. It is effectively still the preparatory phase.

“I think the key is that the current status of the Virgin Islands and other territories similarly situated are also in the preparatory phase of moving towards the full measure of self-governance, which can be achieved through a variety of ways.”

Dr Corbin explained earlier in the presentation, hosted by representatives of the islands’ Government, that there were several categories of territory.

Bermuda and the Virgin Islands were among seven in the Caribbean region described as “non self-governing”.

Dr Corbin explained that a set of self-governance indicators are applied to test the status of a territory and whether it has been prepared for self-government.

Considerations include the evolution of a government in terms of its technical and human resource capacity to govern; the right to develop a constitution without external interference; the degree of autonomy in economic and cultural affairs; and ownership or control of natural resources.

The Gazette asked the Bermuda Government yesterday if Dr Corbin’s assessment will be made public and, if so, when. There was no answer by press time.

Phil Perinchief, a former PLP attorney-general and member of the BIC which published its findings in 2005, said if he understood the Throne Speech remarks correctly, the Government appeared to be taking “a tentative step”.

He added: “This gradualist, minimalist, creeping slow crawl — a belly crawl actually — towards sovereignty, it’s not a mature way to approach it.

“I think what they should do is to take the BIC report and if they want to, in any way, update that of course, and take what has been done — or what I think has been done — by Dr Corbin and just move things forward one way or the other.”

Mr Perinchief pointed out that he preferred a referendum on independence “so that the Government either lines up behind it or leave it alone completely because it’s well past the point whereby you creep and crawl towards this”.

The Throne Speech said about the self-governance assessment: “This is a first step and will be the basis of the necessary wide-ranging community discussion and education that must accompany any future action in this area.”

Cole Simons, the Leader of the Opposition One Bermuda Alliance, said later: “How could the PLP Government raise the topic of independence at a time like this?

“Families are trying to figure out how they are going to eat and pay bills and are worrying about their futures.

“To raise independence at this juncture is yet another stark reminder that Premier [David] Burt and his Government have truly lost touch with the people.”

Sir John Swan, a former United Bermuda Party premier who asked the public to vote on independence in 1995, said yesterday he looked forward to reading Dr Corbin’s report and hoped it would be read by Bermuda residents so that there could be public talks about it.