Criticism of Government as “uncaring” drew a hard-hitting response from Senator Michael Fahy as the Upper House debated the Throne Speech.

Taking “great umbrage” at the accusation that the One Bermuda Alliance neglected Bermudian jobs, Sen Fahy said Government was stuck with the dilemma of growing the economy and cutting debt, which he blamed squarely on the previous administration.

“We need to get more people in Bermuda working and starting up businesses, not just to provide jobs for Bermudians but paying tax,” Sen Fahy said. “Our biggest area of income is payroll tax ... that is the nature of the beast.”

Progressive Labour Party Senator Diallo Rabain countered that Government had run roughshod over the electorate with policies catering disproportionately to business interests, while the Island had fewer jobs now than it did in December, 2012.

Sen Fahy said there had been the first tentative show of economic growth in the almost one per cent rise in Gross Domestic Product in 2013.

Immigration reform was key to achieving economic growth, Sen Fahy said — conceding that it was “a very delicate, very personal, very emotional topic in Bermuda, no matter which side of the divide you come from in terms of politics”.

“Let’s stop the fear mongering that comes along with this topic,” he said.

Sen Fahy expressed pride in the Throne Speech initiative to combine a number of Bermuda’s labour laws, calling the Bermuda Trade Union Act of 1965 badly outdated and in need of repair.

He also said that businesses expressing interest in starting up in Bermuda had expressed trepidation that a new Government might come in and change the laws.

Sen Fahy told the Senate his answer to such fears had been that “nobody reverses things that work”.

In his response Sen Rabain said the OBA had fallen flat and “woefully short” on its hallmark electoral promise of transparency.

He cited the use of campaign funds from “a disreputable businessman that had been squirrelled secretly into Bermuda” — the Jetgate affair that had resulted in “a mystery report that hopefully we will see in the future”.

The contract to put a hotel on the former Club Med site had not been transparently done, Sen Rabain said, and he said the CEO of the company in the agreement had been prosecuted for running a Ponzi scheme. Sen Rabain also said a senior vice president of Starwood Hotels sat on the Bermuda Tourism Authority.

“Transparency — where exactly is it?” he said.

Sen Rabain criticised the absence of promised political reforms from the Throne Speech, reiterated the Opposition’s pledge to reverse the “failed” educational system, and said Bermudians needed to be encouraged to become entrepreneurs rather than assuming employment automatically meant working for others.

He charged that debt reduction measures would lead to unemployment, whereas the PLP would seek to make the civil service more efficient, and he strongly rejected the Throne Speech’s suggestion of reverse mortgages for the elderly.

As for the Immigration Act’s section 20(B), which controversially led to the Supreme Court granting status to certain Permanent Resident’s Certificate holders, Sen Rabain reiterated that a PLP Government would repeal it in its entirety.

“Get those applications in now,” he added.

Independent Senator James Jardine rose to give a failing grade to the Island’s education system, with the latest IGCSE exam results lagging well behind international averages.

He supported the Opposition’s call for economic diversification, but painted an alarming picture of rising debts to be faced in the future, and questioned why no Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Commission recommendations had appeared in the Throne Speech.

“I think it’s good that Government is working with the unions to try and find some way of reducing expenses,” Sen Jardine told the Chamber.

However, he continued: “At some point in time, there won’t be any more expenses that we can cut back. Time is not on our side.”