Government will cross “a red line” if Bermuda tries to hand out citizenship to foreigners, the Opposition warned.However, One Bermuda Alliance MPs accused the Progressive Labour Party of “setting up straw men” — and said Government has no intention of selling Bermuda status.PLP MP Walton Brown levelled the charge during Friday’s motion to adjourn in the House of Assembly.The Pembroke Central MP said the OBA erroneously believed Bermuda’s economy could be revived by bringing more people to the Island.“That’s the argument that began last year,” he said. “This year, people feel empowered, and we now hear conversations not just on bringing more people, but to giving out status.”Pembroke East MP Walter Roban said he knew of similar proposals appearing in the media, adding: “I know the people who have been murmuring these utterances clearly do not share the philosophy of members who sit on this side of the House.”Mr Roban said citizenship proposals had been floated by “some business people, such as the Chamber of Commerce, and the Employers Council, who fancy themselves to be business gurus with their ideas as to how to grow the country”.He added: “If that’s all they can come up with, they’re intellectually bankrupt.”Mr Roban said that if the OBA were contemplating similar moves, “they need to buy some tickets to London to talk about our constitutional future”.“We are not playing a game of selling the birthrights of this country to the highest bidder,” he said, calling it “desperation politics”.Professing amazement, Public Works Minister Trevor Moniz accused the Opposition of “inflaming passions”, telling the House that “remarks made in the paper do not represent Government — whatever remarks someone said, we are a democracy and people are entitled to have their opinion”.Mr Moniz pointed out that legislation awarding permanent residency and status had been put forward under the PLP’s Paula Cox, prompting Deputy Premier Michael Dunkley to call out: “Where was that red line?”PLP MP Rolfe Commissiong pointed to a column by former MP John Barritt, printed in last Friday’s The Royal Gazette, in which Mr Barritt discussed “status for investment” as “an emotive issue for a lot of Bermudians”.“The patron saint of the OBA recognises that the past is often prologue,” Mr Commissiong said. Also singling out an op-ed piece in The Royal Gazette by Island Restaurant Group president Philip Barnett, that called for a discussion on possible citizenship for job creators.Immigration practices were used in Bermuda’s past as “a racial tool”, Mr Commissiong said.The OBA’s Grant Gibbons countered that the PLP was creating “straw men”, telling the House: “Nobody on this side has talked about allowing people to buy status.”“What really upsets the Opposition, and the reason they are creating these straw men, is, I think, they feel we are quietly getting on with things,” Dr Gibbons added.