Progressive Labour Party MP Walter Roban criticised the ruling One Bermuda Alliance party for “beating up” on the Civil Service in the House of Assembly on Friday night.

Mr Roban added: “How do you work for people who do not actually value you?”

Speaking during the debate following the Reply to the 2015-16 Budget, he said: “A Cabinet of 12 [people] can’t run the country by themselves.

“A Cabinet of 12 must rely on others,” and pointed to the Civil Service as among those who help present Government’s programme.

Cabinet needed their confidence, he said. Mr Roban added that the Sage Commission, who looked into Government expenditure when the OBA first took power, had put efficiencies and privatisation on the table, and had put forward “a manifesto that was of itself attacking of the workers of Government”.

He said both sides of the House were in agreement with the aim of making Government more efficient and bringing down its costs. He reminded MPs that the PLP Government had once cut ten per cent from Government spending in order to meet the budget while the party was in power. “It has been the objective of the Bermuda Government for quite some time,” he said. “What we have seen is an effort in the past two years, an effort to paint the workers as being the problem,” he said.

“Go back to my statement about trust, in that these are the very persons you are relying on to ensure your programme is a success.

“I’m not sure how that happens if you are busy beating them up.”

Mr Roban said a questioning of the competence of the Statistics Department had been “very disturbing”.

Mr Roban also focused on the OBA’s tax-relief strategies, designed to bring business to Bermuda, which he called “two revenue schemes which flopped and failed.”

He expressed concern at the 2014-15 Budget statement’s reliance on “eight large projects,” saying there was little progress on those projects.

“Getting hotel investment in this environment is tough,” he said.