Independence campaigner Phil Perinchief has urged the Premier to run a referendum on splitting Bermuda from Britain -- on election day.

The lawyer and Independent candidate for Pembroke West said the poll should be held just as the Country was going to the polls to elect a new Government.

But Premier Pamela Gordon last night rejected the idea, saying there would not be enough time to get the Opposition's consent in Parliament.

The House of Assembly is due to sit again on October 31 but will automatically dissolve on November 4, at the end of the present Government's five-year term.

And any new bills put to the House need at least four working days between the first and second reading.

The Premier added: "Mr. Perinchief knows that it's not possible in accordance with our Parliamentary Act as it stands right now.

"How could we arrange it all in time for the General Election? The only way we could do it would be to reconvene Parliament right now, and for that we would need the support of the Opposition Leader and her party.

"Then we would have to build in legislation that would allow for a referendum on that day.

"I have already checked the Parliamentary Act and there is no provision for a referendum with a General Election.

"Unless there is agreement from both sides it is a virtual impossibility.

Therefore, it is an unrealistic proposition.'' Mr. Perinchief, who urged Bermudians to move towards independence in a forum last week, said it was time for the Premier to "come clean''.

He told The Royal Gazette Bermuda was now faced with a choice -- becoming a "department'' of the United Kingdom or going its own way.

The lawyer said Independence was the "only way forward'', as the Organisation for Ecomonic Cooperation and Development was preparing to blacklist the Island as a tax haven.

"The Premier should be honest with the people of Bermuda and say it's time we now had that choice,'' he said.

"My own view is that she should put that on the election ticket in order to get the full sentiments of the Country on this vital issue.

"She has to stop duping the people. She's playing with semantics. I don't excuse the PLP for not informing themselves on this issue either. They just say: `Let's wait and see'.

"The UBP doesn't have to take a position for or against, it just has to give the people the choice.

"Then, if successful, we could set a date for Independence of say January 1, 2000 or January 1, 2005.'' He said the fight to restore Bermudians' rights to live and work in the UK would take the Island back to the days of the British Nationality Act, scrapped by Margaret Thatcher in 1981.

"But it's time we face facts,'' he added. "Under the terms of the OECD report, we are a tax haven.

"We are a jurisdiction which offers lower rates of taxation to international companies than they would find in their country of origin.

"The Premier needs to face up to that so we can all do what's right for Bermuda.'' Mr. Perinchief told last week's Independence forum that Bermuda had to go independent so it could form its own tax system and fight OECD restrictions to keep international business on the Island.

POLITICS PTL