UBP to disband after 47 years

The move leaves the way clear for the formation of the new party next week, in time for the start of the new parliamentary session on Friday, May 13.

Jeanne Atherden, a UBP senator and party chairman, said: “The officers were instructed to proceed with the orderly winding up of the UBP.”

But she refused to reveal details of how party members had voted or what kind of majority the creation of a new party had commanded.

Ms Atherden said: “The party asked us to look at this and the party is now in favour of the winding up of the UBP and the creation of the One Bermuda Alliance.”

UBP Leader of the House John Barritt, likely to lead the new party in the interim, declined to discuss criticism that the new party was “old wine in new bottles” or outline the future direction of the new party.

He said: “All things in time.”

But Bermuda Democratic Alliance (BDA) MP and former UBP MP Mark Pettingill dismissed claims by the ruling PLP that the new party, formed from the UBP and the BDA, which included a three-strong group of MPs which split from the Opposition in 2009, was just the UBP reunited.

Typical criticism

He said: “That’s just the typical criticism you’re going to hear from the PLP – they’ve got nothing else to say.

“We’re entirely focused on Bermuda and that’s what’s got to come first.

“People want strong representation and the One Bermuda Alliance needs to focus on the issues and real concerns that are facing Bermuda.

“We’re not going to get caught up in the PLP spin machine trying to detract from that.

“It’s a new party, a new entity – there are some of the same people and a number of new people too.

“What all of these people have is the best interests of Bermuda at heart and a desire to address the very real issues we’re facing in this country today.”

Former UBP Premier Sir John Swan, who occupied Cabinet Office for 13 years, said he would personally miss the party he had devoted so much of his life to.

But he added: “What they are trying to do is come together without having any one-upmanship.

“Taking a decision to change the name also stops the static about whether people like the UBP or don’t and whether people like the Alliance or don’t.

“The test is, what’s going to be different? What are they offering the public in terms of how they structure themselves, what they stand for and how they present what they stand for to the voters?

“It is a new party, with a new agenda and new faces, together with some old faces.”

Sir John added: “I understand why they want to change – although I do have some nostalgia for the UBP,  times change.