its multi-million dollar mess at the former Base lands in top-level meetings in Washington.

And Britain's decision to apply pressure to its US allies could tip the balance in favour of a massive payout of up to $60 million for Bermuda.

The pledge came at a meeting yesterday between Foreign Office chief Baroness Symons and Lord Ashley, the head of a delegation from the British Commonwealth Parliamentary Association which visited last month.

Lord Ashley -- a former senior Labour Minister now in the Upper House -- told The Royal Gazette : "It was a splendid, cooperative meeting and the Minister showed a great willingness to do what she could.'' He added: "I asked her to re-open negotiations with the American government and she has promised to discuss it when she visits Washington in the next few months. She said she would press the issue, which is a major step forward for Bermuda.'' Lord Ashley added: "There should be either compensation or the Americans doing the work themselves.

"The Americans have said they would only do something where there was an imminent threat to health and safety,'' he said. "But with asbestos around, there is an imminent threat to health and safety.'' When the US Navy weighed anchor in 1995, problems left behind at its St.

David's air base included tons of oil, potentially deadly asbestos and poisonous heavy metals.

And at the old Annex in Southampton, around 500,000 gallons of oil -- believed to have leaked over the years from underground tanks -- is thought to lie in caves beneath the site.

The area -- now known as Morgan's Point -- is earmarked for a major tourist development.

Lord Ashley said the original agreement drawn up in the 1940s between Britain and US for bases in return for wartime supplies appeared to say any land acquired should be returned in good physical condition.

He added: "If this is the case, they haven't done that and there is a legal obligation.

"But in any case, there is an undoubted moral obligation and Baroness Symons will press that.'' And Lord Ashley added Baroness Symons had also agreed to open talks on increased flights from Europe to Bermuda -- a long-standing beef of the Tourism Ministry.

He also said Baroness Symons had said she was "happy to help'' by seconding British civil servants to help modernise the Island's public services.

He added: "We said there was a need for improved airline connections -- there are only three or four flights a week from the whole of Europe.

"Baroness Symons said she was happy to consider proposals from Bermuda and we asked her to raise the issue with the Minister of Transport, John Reid, and British Airways -- that's another major advance.''