Parliamentary committees will remain closed to the public if new rules for the House of Assembly are approved by MPs in November.

The draft Standing Orders — drawn up by Deputy Speaker Dame Jennifer Smith and Opposition MP John Barritt — state that meetings "shall be private" subject to any order of the House or resolution of the committee.

The recommendation — which flies in the face of accepted best practice for democratic governments — means taxpayers will continue to be locked out of meetings where the spending of their cash is being discussed by MPs.

Mr. Barritt told The Royal Gazette he pushed for the committees to be opened up but former Premier Dame Jennifer disagreed, as did other Government members of the House's Rules and Privileges committee, which tabled the proposals at the end of the last parliamentary session.

Opposition leader Kim Swan said yesterday that his party would oppose the proposal when the rules are debated.

"We are not in favour of keeping House of Assembly committees closed to the public, particularly the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)," said Mr. Swan, who sits on Rules and Privileges.

"We were successful in getting the joint select committee on education opened to the press and hoped it would lead to other committee openings because Bermuda wants and needs greater transparency in all aspects of its governance."

Dame Jennifer would not comment on the new rules, including the recommendation to keep meetings closed, as she said she did not want to anticipate debate in the House.

But she explained that in drafting them she and Mr. Barritt were "guided by the template developed by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and by the standing orders of various other jurisdictions".

The CPA publication Recommendations for Transparent Governance says parliament should "play a leadership role in promoting open government by opening up its own practices and procedures to the widest possible extent".

It states: "There should be a presumption that committee meetings are open to the public, so that closed meetings are the exception rather than the rule. Where it is necessary to hold a meeting, or part of a meeting, in private, a decision to that effect should be taken in public and reasons for that decision should be given."

This newspaper's A Right To Know: Giving People Power campaign has called for parliamentary committees to stop meeting in secret since January 2008.

And the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee recommended in a report last year that Bermuda should cease holding closed parliamentary committee meetings.

A year ago, Rules and Privileges agreed to let the education select committee meet in public on a trial basis after a request from committee chairman Neletha Butterfield.

Ms Butterfield, now Culture Minister, publicly thanked this newspaper for its "excellent" coverage after it reported on the first meeting.

Government backbencher Walter Lister said in January he supported opening up the PAC, a committee on which he sits and which scrutinises the spending of public funds.

He said to do so would broaden democracy and was a matter of human rights. Less than two months later, Mr. Lister said the meetings should continue to be held in secret because he feared that those pushing to open them up had an "ulterior motive".

Mr. Barritt, the UBP's spokesperson for legislative and public administration reform, told this newspaper he was disappointed that Government members of Rules and Privileges, including Premier Ewart Brown, were not prepared to open up the meetings of all committees.

"The Government simply said: 'No, we are not there yet'. I said: 'Why don't we try the Public Accounts Committee?' It seems to me that's the one committee that ought to be.

"For the life of me, I can't see why we continue to resist. I'm hoping that when we have a more open debate in full view of the House and this gets more publicity, that people will say that it's time, that this is an appropriate time to abandon past practice, bad practice."

Dr. Brown's press secretary said last night: "We're not going to say anything on the subject at the moment. In these kinds of situations, Dame Jennifer would warn against 'anticipating debate in the House'. Perhaps more can be said later."

l Move to have Premier and Cabinet face weekly question time from MPs – Page 8