Government senators yesterday spoke out in support of the Premier's decision to bring four former prisoners from Guantánamo Bay to Bermuda.

Senator Marc Bean told the Upper Chamber that the Island should have the power to make such decisions on its own and that Premier Ewart Brown was right not to have consulted with Britain about the detainees.

"A colonial constitutional order is not sacred," said the PLP politician. "We will continue to test the limits of our constitutional relationship."

Sen. Bean, speaking during a take note motion on the Uighurs, said Bermuda should have the freedom to handle such issues without having to go 3,500 miles and ask permission.

He referred to a poll released this week showing almost 80 percent of voters were against cutting ties with the UK. "No one wants to be independent," Sen. Bean said. "But who really wants to be a colony, when you think about what it is?"

Dr. Brown has said that he and Home Affairs Minister David Burch believed bringing the Guantánamo prisoners here was solely an immigration matter, which falls within their powers. But Governor Sir Richard Gozney insists it should have been the UK's decision.

Government senator Walton Brown told the Senate yesterday: "The UK cannot tell us who to bring to our shores."

He said just because the UK claimed it was a foreign policy issue, didn't make that correct. "Just because they say it, doesn't mean it is so," said Sen. Brown. "We assert that it is an immigration matter.

"Our constitutional letter is to the UK but our bread and butter is to the US and the US asked us to keep it secret."

Fellow PLP senator Thaao Dill said he did not understand people who complained that democracy was being trampled on.

He said it was not logical for people to complain about a decision made by democratically elected MPs, while calling for it to have been made by an unelected Governor. Sen. Dill added: "We're not free, that's why we don't understand freedom."

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