Skip to main content
Media

Response to a statement from the Premier on how he had kept his promises

By August 26, 2020August 27th, 2020No Comments

At his press conference today, the Premier said his Government had kept its promises, yet the reality is that he has repeatedly over-promised and under-delivered.

In 2018, the Premier unveiled a series of MOUs with fintech companies that promised investment in training and Bermudian-based blockchain companies worth $25m.

One MOU alone promised the creation of 30 jobs and the Premier was quoted as saying that, ‘based on these commitments, we stand to create 120 jobs for Bermudians over the next three years’.

In an interview following the MOU announcement, the Premier said, ‘I’m relatively certain that within the next two months you’ll begin to see more companies that will sign leases, that will begin hiring, that will begin setting up, and will begin their philanthropic efforts here in Bermuda’.

Yet we know, because the Premier has told us, that in three years, fintech has created a total of 31 jobs. Also, don’t forget the grand plan to create a fintech hub in St. David’s which fizzled out and who can forget the fiasco that was Arbitrade?

There was a promise to lower the cost of living and introduce a living wage which was agreed in a bipartisan joint select committee, but the PLP has been unable, or unwilling, to deliver.

He has forced the sugar tax on people and the take-over of the municipalities, why can’t he keep his promise on the living wage?

There were also promises to balance the budget and to achieve a budget surplus of $7m.

Those never transpired and, in fact, Mr Burt’s Government has borrowed $1bn in the last 12 months.

That’s an extra $15,500 for every man, woman and child.

What does this mean for you? Those fintech jobs would mean more money for Government so it could buy new buses or fix the potholes in our roads.

A $7m budget surplus could have gone to helping Bermudians struggling to buy school uniforms for their children. It could have given internet access students studying at home during the Covid lockdown internet access. It could have provided food for those people relying on charities.

The Premier has made big promises and failed to keep them. Is this the person we want to lead us out of the economic disaster we are facing?