special pressure group set up to push Island interests.

For the Anglo-Bermudian branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association has been revived after years of neglect.

And Scots MP Ian Davidson -- who visited the Island as part of a CPA delegation last month -- is to be chairman of the re-formed branch.

He recently told The Royal Gazette : "We see this as being a means of raising the Bermudian profile in the UK and allowing Bermudians another channel through which they can make their feelings known.

"And we can keep Bermuda abreast of things happening in Parliament which might be of interest on the Island.'' Premier Jennifer Smith last night applauded the news of the reborn links between the Island and the UK Parliament.

She said: "I welcome the renewed interest in Bermuda and hope this initiative will lead to strengthened ties between Bermuda and the UK.'' Mr. Davidson said the Parliamentary team would be arranging meetings with the Bermuda Society -- a powerful interest group of bankers and business people, as well as others with connections to the Island.

He will be backed up by deputy chairmen ex-Governor Lord Waddington and Lord Tope, a former Liberal MP whose mother was Bermudian and who still has relatives on the Island.

Ex-Labour Minister Lord Ashley, who headed the CPA delegation to the Island, will be secretary, while Conservative MP Nick Hawkins will act as treasurer.

He has promised the four-strong branch would "help wherever we can'' in pushing Bermuda's case in Britain.

Mr. Davidson added that the CPA delegation had attended a meeting with Foreign Office junior Minister Baroness Symons after they return to London.

And he said representatives of all the Overseas Territories will get together after the long-awaited White Paper on the UK's rewrite of relations with its colonies, expected in less than a fortnight's time.

The choice of name for the revived branch, however, has raised eyebrows among the non-Anglo parts of the United Kingdom.

Alex Salmond MP, leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party and currently outpacing Labour in polls for the new Scottish Parliament to be set up later this year, said: "People should be careful about their terminology -- Anglo means English and clearly that is not what they mean.

"Now Scotland and Wales are developing a more distinctive identity, I'm sure people will be more careful in what they say.'' He added: "Jack Ashley is a very well-respected person and I'm sure it's something he would want to correct.'' Ian Davidson