Opposition leader Pam Gordon slammed Government for double standards and pandering to xenophobia as it grappled with the long-term residency issue.

She called for status to be given to foreigners who had been in Bermuda for more than 20 years in 1989.

"Our position has always been that long-term residents should be given status. It's a moral thing.'' And she said if Bermuda opted for independence then under international law it would have to offer citizenship to long-term residents.

"It's a no-brainer. It's an exercise in futility.'' She said the proposed Permanent Residents Certificate, which gives limited rights to buy property but doesn't give the right to vote, was an interim solution.

"You create a different class of citizen -- a second class citizen,'' she said. "That can't be right -- when a country is willing to accept expert people there has to be a trade-off.

"If we are willing to accept them and have the economic benefits which increase our quality of life in terms of gross domestic product they need to get something back.'' She said Bermuda had a declining birth rate while the death rate remained steady.

"A few thousand people will be affected if you give them status. We in Bermuda can't have it both ways.'' She said xenophobia had developed over the years with the PLP saying expatriates had been imported to bolster support for the UBP.

"They created a `them and us' scenario -- people started to believe it,'' she said. "There was the perception that most of the expats were white. Blacks were encouraged to feel resentful.

"People say `You came here off a plane, you can go back home'.'' "My father Dr. Gordon was a Trinidadian -- he came here as a doctor and made a contribution.

"The PLP like him -- was it because he was black or because he made a contribution? "I hope it was because he made a contribution -- that should be the case no matter what colour of group they are.'' She said the majority of people in Parliament had their roots in another culture.

"When you look at the PLP most come from St. Kitts or St. Lucia.

"If ordinary people would put the emotion aside for a few moments and look at their personal history, how many can go back generations and say their family belongs here? "Many are first or second generation Bermudians.'' She said just as white people, no matter their religion and nationality, could assimilate easily in the States while blacks stood out, the reverse was the case in Bermuda.

"If you are black it doesn't matter whether you come from Africa, Jamaica or the Caribbean -- people will think you are Bermudian because you are black.

"If you are white, even if you are born in Bermuda, people think you are a foreigner. That's wrong, that should not be.

"Bermuda is moving backward on the issue of colour, not forward.

"We want the UK to open its borders to let footballer Steve Astwood in, we want to send our children overseas to get work experience to bring back to Bermuda.'' She said the stance would harm the business environment in Bermuda.

Ms Gordon said foreigners living in Britain, the US and Canada could apply for citizenship after five years.

"The UBP had to make the conditions slightly more onerous as we have limited resources and we are a limited size.

"So we quadrupled the requirement and said that if someone had the wherewithal to remain in Bermuda after 20 years contributing to our society we should not treat them as second class citizens.'' She chided Government for spreading fears about the impact on Bermuda housing and traffic situation of granting status when the people in question were already here.

She said: "These people were here before the housing crisis and the extra traffic. These things have happened in the last five years.'' Ms Gordon challenged the notion the UBP were pushing for status for long-term residents because it would get their votes -- even suggesting that the PLP could pick up votes from long term residents if it gave them a decent deal.

"We have to get beyond the body politic and do the right thing,'' she said.

"People must have the right to choose in a democratic society, some may vote for the UBP and there's a greater possibility that they may vote for a Government that treats them in a fair manner.'' She said if the UBP had been returned in 1998 it would have given status to those with 20 years in Bermuda under their belt in 1989, while discretionary status would have been offered to those here on that date without 20 years on the island.