Premier Jennifer Smith has rejected Opposition claims that the Boundaries Commission will not have the constitutional power to reduce the number of MPs sitting in Parliament.

She said a statement by Opposition Whip Cole Simons in yesterday's Royal Gazette was "riddled with inaccuracies'' designed to "deliberately mislead the public''.

Mr. Simons said the Constitution did not allow a Boundaries Commission to specify the number of MPs who will sit in the House of Assembly -- only to look at the size of constituencies and their boundaries.

And he said lawyers were "chomping at the bit'' to challenge the decision to allow the Boundaries Commission to do this because, he claims, it breaches the Constitution.

But Ms Smith said proposed amendments to section 52 of the Constitution -- which will have to be approved by the British Government -- would allow the Commission powers to do this.

In a statement, she said: "The entire record of the Progressive Labour Party while in Opposition and now in Government demonstrated respect for the rule of law and the primacy of the Bermuda Constitution.

"Far from non-adherence to the Bermuda Constitution, we, more than any other political party, have been guided by the Constitution and this position has prevailed throughout consecutive election platforms.'' The United Bermuda Party is calling for a referendum and constitutional conference on the changes, but Government has given no indication it will accept this.

Ms Smith accused the UBP Whip of misrepresenting the facts when he claimed Government wants to reduce the number of constituencies.

She said: "Government has never said it wanted to `reduce' the number of constituencies.

"Government's exact quote is `reduce the number of seats in the House of Assembly'. The public will be well aware that reducing the number of seats (40) is not the same as reducing the number of constituencies (20).'' She said Mr. Simons' claim that the Commission -- consisting of a chairman and judicial officer appointed by Governor Thorold Masefield and two Government and two UBP representatives -- was "autonomous'' and "meeting behind closed doors'' was also wrong.

"Only after the House of Assembly has adopted the report of the Boundaries Commission will the recommendations become law,'' she said.

She said changes proposed to the Constitution would allow the Commission to review constituency boundaries and make recommendations.

"The untruth that the Government plans to `reduce the number of constituencies' is repeated throughout (Mr. Simons' statement), contrary to the Premier's statement that Government does not wish to supercede the Boundaries Commission's recommendations by speculating on how many constituencies may be recommended in that body's report.

"However, the number of constituencies would be dependent on the amount of votes per constituency in keeping with the Government's platform promise.'' Rejecting Mr. Simons' allegation that Government was pushing through changes without the consent of the public, the Premier states: "He should know by now that the electorate gave their consent to this initiative on November 9 1998 when they voted for the platform of the Progressive Labour Party.

"Mr. Simons' (statement) is so riddled with inaccuracies and misinformation as to cause one to think that the UBP Whip's purpose must have been to deliberately mislead the public.

"Anyone interested in the facts is advised to consult the Bermuda constitution -- which document has guided this Government's efforts in this regard''.