Anti-conscription campaigner Larry Marshall yesterday dismissed Premier Paula Cox’s pledge to move away from the policy as “electioneering”.Speaking at the Progressive Labour Party’s annual conference on Wednesday night, Ms Cox said: “We are committed to having a full-time Regiment with a paid cadre of officers and to move away from mandated conscription.”Bermudians Against the Draft have been fighting through the courts since 2006 to get the policy abolished. They have described it as “modern day slavery”.Attempts to get Ms Cox to elaborate on her comments yesterday proved fruitless, but Mr Marshall said: “I do not for one moment believe that the PLP will end conscription. We were told the same thing five years ago leading into the last general election and they have done absolutely nothing. The announcement made last night by the Premier is nothing but electioneering, plain and simple.”Mr Marshall Sr said BAD is repeating its calls to voters, especially young black males, to boycott voting for any political party that has not abolished conscription. In the meantime, he said, the campaign group will continue its fight through the courts.One Bermuda Alliance leader Craig Cannonier said yesterday: “We note the Premier’s promise to move to a full-time Regiment with a paid cadre of soldiers and away from mandated conscription. But we have to question the sincerity of this election-time announcement, because it is something that her Government, if it was serious about reform, could have moved on years ago.“For the record, the One Bermuda Alliance supports a full review of the Regiment to make it work for Bermuda in the 21st century. This would include a review of its duties, its purpose going forward and conscription.”Kim Swan said the United Bermuda Party has long advocated for a review of conscription.“Notwithstanding that the PLP mentioned that they were prepared to review conscription in last year’s Throne Speech, the Premier's announcement makes for a juicy election promise on the eve of the expiration of the PLP's third term,” he said.“Consequently, we are duty bound to ask: How much has been paid out in total collectively in legal cost by the Bermuda Government and BAD fighting conscription in local courts and at the Privy Council? Quite a lot we would guess, and this Government should answer the above question and provide specific reasons for why this money was spent.”Bermuda is the only overseas territory where men are made to do military service. Conscripts are selected by a random ballot of males aged 18 to 33 who must then serve for three years and two months on a part-time basis. The policy has been in place since 1965, as attempts to fill the Regiment’s ranks with volunteers have not attracted enough recruits.Changes to the policy were mooted by Ms Cox in 2001 when she was Home Affairs Minister.In 2008, a Foreign Office report recommended: “The [British] Government should encourage the Bermuda Government to move away from conscription and towards the Bermuda Regiment becoming a more professional organisation, with voluntary and paid elements.”However, the committee noted that there was cross-party political support in Bermuda for conscription, that a 2004 survey showed it is favoured by the majority of the public, and that there may be difficulty attracting more full-time staff to the Regiment when the private sector can offer more attractive rewards.Shortly after the report was published, then-Premier Ewart Brown said Cabinet was considering alternatives to conscription, although he gave no details. He mooted the idea of offering some form of national youth service as an alternative — an idea repeated by Ms Cox in November 2011.Asked for his response to Ms Cox’s latest comments, Governor George Fergusson, who is Commander in Chief of the Regiment, said: “Conscription is a matter for Bermuda legislation. It involves judgments which go beyond just defence. It is right that the principle of conscription should be determined by elected politicians. If the decision is made to move away from conscription, I would look forward to working with the elected Government to make sure that we had good arrangements in place to keep the Regiment effective into the future.”Regiment spokesman Ben Beasley declined to comment, saying questions from this newspaper should be directed to the Governor and / or Government.