McDonald's and other fast food franchises out of Bermuda is set to pass third reading in the House of Assembly later this month. By tradition very few bills face any problems on third reading. However, despite the optimism of its supporters, there are ongoing reports in the community that the bill which split the United Bermuda Party is in trouble. The bill's supporter, Trevor Moniz, has been quoted as saying, "I think the view of the public was pretty clear. The vast majority of the public were against McDonald's.'' That certainly appears to have been the case especially among UBP supporters, and the public was lulled into accepting that the row and the threat of McDonald's were over. Then Premier David Saul repeatedly told the public that the issue had been put to rest.

But had it? During the last few months there have been disturbing signs that McDonald's is still with us.

The space allotted to Grape Bay Ltd. for McDonald's at the Airport is being held open and will be filled temporarily with food service, presumably awaiting the outcome of the House of Assembly's third reading of the bill.

The Attorney General has declined to confirm or deny that he has provided a legal opinion on the constitutionality of the Prohibited Restaurants Act.

There are strong reports that he had ruled that the act is unconstitutional because of its retroactive clause and that he will advise the new Governor not to sign it into law if the House passes the act. That would place the House of Assembly in the very awkward position of having passed unconstitutional legislation. If the Attorney General had provided an opinion that there is no problem with the legislation, surely he would clear the air and say so.

From the United Bermuda Party's point of view, it seems to us that C.V. (Jim) Woolridge has it right when he is quoted as saying: "I think we should be looking forward to building and winning the next election.'' The UBP must realise that failure to prohibit McDonald's now in the face of strong public opinion will lead to the kind of chaos that its new leader Pamela Gordon does not need. The UBP must be priding itself on the fact that it has settled down to business under Premier Gordon and it must know that further inter-party chaos will blight Pamela Gordon's premiership just as it did David Saul's. McDonald's did extraordinary damage to David Saul and it brought Finance Minister Grant Gibbons' political smarts into disrepute.

McDonald's also gave the public the clear impression that the UBP was at war with itself.

Premier Gordon has changed the political atmosphere in Bermuda and has changed the image of the UBP. So far her performance has been exemplary. If the UBP wars with itself again, then it can say goodbye to its future. It's that simple.