Government's final budget before the next general elections will be "long on promises and lots of give-aways, and very short on solid economic planning", according to Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons.

Finance Minister Eugene Cox delivers the budget to the House of Assembly this morning.

Dr. Gibbons was short on any reasoned speculation on the document which will outline how Government plans to spend, and raise, half a billion dollars of taxpayers' money.

But he was long on criticism of the performance of the first Progressive Labour Party (PLP) Government when contacted for his pre-budget comments.

Essentially Dr. Gibbons said he does not expect much in the way of increased taxes or borrowing because Government revenue is strong as a result of hefty tax increases in the past. "The past four budgets of the Progressive Labour Party have been big disappointments," he said.

"Over $2 billion have been spent by the Smith Government. And the reason I said they are a disappointment is because they haven't delivered the programmes that address the basic needs of the people of this country - they have wasted money and they have wasted opportunity. The PLP said `make it happen' and look what's happened. The cost of living has gone up, we have had considerably higher taxes, land taxes have gone up over 60 percent since that 1999 budget. The gap between `have and haves-not' has widened and I think most people feel they are working harder and longer for less disposable income."

Government had not delivered on the Island's affordable housing needs, he said by way of example.

"The emergency housing list is longer. BHC has been riddled with waste, scandal, corruption and now evictions. Healthcare has become more expensive and the hospital now has serious financial problems. The education system, apparently, isn't working for our children and we have seen a steady exodus into the private schools and home schooling. Many teachers are actually leaving the public system and the Berkeley project is a shambles." Tourism had gone into "free fall" since the PLP took over the Government, he added.

"We've lost well in excess of a quarter of a billion dollars of tourist expenditure that hasn't gone into hotels, or taxis or restaurants or other parts of the hospitality business. On drugs and crime we have had mini riots in our streets and the critical drug treatment is in total disarray and support for ATI is simply not there on the drug assessment side."

Dr. Gibbons said he did not expect too much in the way of tax increases in this year's budget. "As a consequence of land and payroll tax increases a number of years ago, their revenue is probably still very strong. But it's obviously resulted in an enormous burden on individuals and businesses."

He said Government has yet to provide a "comprehensive blueprint for prosperity and sustainable development".

The Island's economy is now "dangerously dependent" on international business, he added.

"You can see that in the rather worrying drop in the current account surplus. Unless we diversify we are not going to build the fair and inclusive society that Bermuda needs. That's why we have proposed a completely new ministry to manage economic opportunity and diversification... There has been essentially visionless economic management over the last four years. There simply has been no economic planning."

The budget may contain large amounts for capital spending, he said. "Even though they have budgeted capital expenditure, they haven't been able to move these projects forward. And the second reason is because they are at a point in an election year where they are trying desperately to put money in for a whole range of capital projects... which haven't been delivered."

He continued: "The revenue has also benefited up for the shortfall on the tourism side. The worrying thing about international business is that we have seen from the rather perverse, but obviously welcome, boom in reinsurance following 9/11 - it's helped to make real drop off of companies. If you look at the first four quarters of 2002 new registrations have dropped 40 percent below the same period in 2000 and are even below 1997 levels."

He predicted that Mr. Cox will probably make some spending cutbacks or "not properly budget and slip in a supplementary at a later point."