The British Government has indicated support for conscription in Bermuda, in a blow for those campaigning to end it.

Responding to questions about the controversial policy in the UK House of Commons, Foreign Office Minister Geoff Hoon said: “There is widespread support in Bermuda for compulsory military service in the event of voluntary enlistment proving inadequate.”

Mr. Hoon quoted “an independent public survey in Bermuda taken in 2004” that showed 79 percent in favour of continuing conscription. He did not specify the source of the survey, but added that both the Progressive Labour Party and United Bermuda Party have expressed their support for the policy.

The Member of Parliament who asked the questions, anti-draft campaigner Andrew MacKinlay, also asked the Government whether Bermuda’s compulsory service impacted on Britain’s ‘ethical foreign policy’ and equality and gender discrimination policies. Mr. Hoon replied: “The Government sees no conflict between our foreign and domestic policies and the Bermuda Defence Act.”

He was asked to provide a breakdown of how many conscripts there were compared to volunteers in the Regiment, but replied: “There is no distinction made in the establishment between male conscripts and volunteers.”

Mr. MacKinlay has leant his backing to Bermudians Against the Draft (B.A.D.), a group of 13 men preparing a Supreme Court bid to get the call-up outlawed. Six more men plan to add their names to the action soon.

Branding the policy “21st century slavery” the group alleges that the ballot which chooses conscripts is gender-biased and a breach of human rights because only men are picked, not women. Members also claim that just seven percent of the Regiment is formed of volunteers, and have made allegations about abuse of conscripts.

Mr. MacKinlay has said his interest in the issue arose when he read a article about the Regiment that showed conscripts arrested for desertion who were chained up and wearing orange prisoner’s jump-suits. Some of his Parliamentary Questions asked how many times a leg brace had been used on a Regiment conscript since 2000 and what proportion of recruits did not respond to their call up in recent years.

Mr. Hoon said 11 percent of conscripts ignored the call last year, compared to 16 percent in both 2004 and 2005 and 39 percent in 2003. He added that, according to the Regiment, the leg brace was used three times in 2001 as a restraint but the device was banned from use later that year.

Because Bermuda is a UK territory, overall command over the Regiment is exercised by Governor Sir John Vereker. Matters such as manning, training, recruitment, and finance are devolved to Minister of Public Safety David Burch. News of the answers given in London came after both Sir John and Sen. Burch gave their backing to mandatory military service, and indicated a lack of public support for its abolition.

Bermudians Against the Draft founder Larry Marshall Sr. last night challenged the claim that most Bermudians backed conscription. He said he was unaware of the source of the survey figures cited by Mr. Hoon, and added: “An unscientific poll should not be the basis for maintaining a system as corrupt as conscription. It’s belittling to the intelligence of the Bermudian for Mr. Hoon to suggest that he knows better than us. Bermudians Against the Draft believe that right now there is considerable opposition to conscription in Bermuda. We do not have a percentage but we believe that the number of people opposing it will continue to rise.”