Term limits are shaping up to be the first skirmish of the run-up to the next general election.Last week, the One Bermuda Alliance said that if it was Government it would freeze the policy for the next two years, as the Cayman Islands proposes to do, as part of a package of measures aimed at getting the Bermuda economy going again.The ruling Progressive Labour Party punched back, raising the spectre of foreigners taking over Bermuda, and claiming that the OBA wanted to abolish term limits completely. Back came the OBA, accusing the PLP, correctly, of lying both in the sense that term limits have never been intended as a means of protecting Bermudian jobs, and over the fact the OBA never said it wanted to abolish them; in fact it said it would freeze them while coming up with a better policy.Term limits were devised by then Home Affairs Minister and now Premier Paula Cox in response to a significant problem that arose in the late 1990s after the controversial policy of granting 40 work permits at the discretion of the Government was abolished.As a result, hundreds of people who had lived in Bermuda for decades found themselves with no prospect of permanent status and no rights on an Island which had become home to them and their children.So Ms Cox decided to grant them permanent resident status, with the caveat that the Island would never allow the situation to arise again. Instead all new work permit holders would come to the Island in the knowledge that they would not have the right to remain for more than six years and would have no prospect of permanent residence.This policy attempted to balance the rights of those who had been in Bermuda for a long period while providing security to Bermudians that they would not be displaced in their own home. Despite these good intentions, it became clear very quickly that the policy was unworkable. Many employers rightly argued that certain non-Bermudian employees were critical to the success of their businesses and waivers and extensions had to be granted.Secondly, the knowledge on the part of expatriates that their time in Bermuda would be short lessens their commitment to the Island, while the lack of certainty for long term employment is a disincentive to recruiting and retention of the best minds and hampers the ability of companies to do business when personal connections and experience are often their most valuable assets.To that extent, it matters very little that waivers and extensions are granted in many cases. The policy has become a symbol of Bermuda’s unwelcoming attitude to international companies and their associated businesses and has, in that sense been a deciding factor in companies relocating employees overseas, or moving entirely. Some of the reasons for this are indeed out of Bermuda’s hands. But Bermuda’s refusal to change the policies that are within its control speaks volumes, and businesses are now voting with their feet.That the PLP should now try to defend the policy, and to turn it into an issue of control over the Island, shows how little of this it has understood. Like it or not, the international companies and their non-Bermudian employees create jobs for Bermudians, but they will not do so if they are in Switzerland or Ireland. And they don’t just create jobs for maids and gardeners as is sometimes suggested. They create high value jobs for the Bermudian middle class, which is now reeling from the recession.For these reasons, the OBA is right to call for a freeze on the policy. And in fact it should be abolished. Despite the genuinely good intentions for which it was enacted, it is now doing far more harm than good, and as a symbol, its abandonment would let the world know that Bermuda is open for business again.