The upcoming general election is a choice between austerity and investment, according to the Progressive Labour Party.A new television ad featuring Premier Paula Cox seeks to position the PLP as a Government that invests in the people, while portraying the Opposition One Bermuda Alliance as the party of austerity and damaging cutbacks.The campaign was met with a robust response from the OBA which said that the Government had already presided over a long list of cutbacks and was attempting to deflect attention from its failures by trying to persuade the voters that an OBA Government would be worse.The ad began running on the internet and on television stations on Thursday.Ms Cox tells her audience that austerity and investment are two alternative approaches to debt.“We choose investment,” Ms Cox says. She argues that the OBA chooses austerity but that would mean “massive” cuts to Education, the Economic Empowerment Zone, FutureCare and DayCare.“To put Bermuda back on the path of prosperity, Governments should invest in protecting jobs and encouraging job creation that puts money in the pockets of Bermudian families.“These families support our small businesses. Buying at Bermudian businesses keeps them open and helps them grow. Over time, this growth means that more taxes are paid and the debt is reduced.”On Thursday, the PLP trumpeted the campaign ad in a press release with candidate Neville Tyrell recalled a 2010 report in this newspaper in which Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards said it “has to be all about austerity”.“Now, I think we know why the OBA isn’t telling us what they want to do. They know that austerity is deeply unpopular, and they don’t want you to know their real plans — that’s why they’re the party of no ideas and no solutions,” Mr Tyrell is quoted as saying in the release.Ms Cox said: “We believe that by protecting jobs and investing in infrastructure, we put money in the pockets of working and middle class Bermudians.“Those Bermudians use that money to buy things they need. The buying helps our economy grow and brings us out of the recession.“This next election is a choice between a PLP that stands strong for Bermudians by investing in our people and an OBA that isn’t telling us what they’re going to do. The choice is clear.”The OBA was unimpressed by what it described as “attacks trying to distort and demonise” the party.“We understand why they are doing this. The Government needs to shift people’s attentions away from the fact that it has led Bermuda into a world of unemployment, shootings and debt, with no end in sight,” an OBA spokesperson said.“They are out of ideas, out of solutions and out of gas — and these attack statements reflect that. They have no plans to speak of, no economic recovery plan, no debt reduction plan, no jobs plan and no education plan that we can see.“Because they don’t have any answers to the serious problems they’ve helped create, they are trying to make people think the OBA would be worse.”The Government has a record of cutbacks, the spokesperson continued.He noted that cutbacks had led to 93 teachers being let go from the public school system, the Sunshine League forcing it to closing its doors after losing its government grant, and reduced support to Big Brothers and Big Sisters.In addition, the OBA noted that the support staff at the Berkeley Institute had been laid off, the Bermuda Cadet Corps is to be disbanded for “‘cost-effective’ ‘reasons” and the Bermuda Police Service was operating ten to 15 percent below authorised manpower levels because of underfunding.“The list goes on and underlines the fact that this has been a Government of cutbacks. That’s all people need to know on this issue.”He refuted the PLP slogan that the OBA has “no ideas or solutions” saying that “they do not hesitate to adopt our ideas”.“Recent examples include Government plans to streamline the work permit process, reverse discriminatory regulations against Bermudians married to non-Bermudians in the purchase of real estate, and slowly moving toward our position on a Tourism Authority.”The United Bermuda Party’s Kim Swan said what is needed is both austerity measures and “greater investment to put Bermuda on a more stable footing economically”.Mr Swan added that the PLP had to take responsibility for the need for austerity measures “to combat a bloated public sector”, and an “unsustainable” fiscal situation.He said that private sector growth was critical to job creation and that foreign investment was necessary to get the economy moving again.“The PLP Government at some point must admit that in many areas they are not the ‘poster child’ for financial prudence.“Their (PLP Government) record of deficit spending, cost over runs, supplemental spending guaranteed that there were no reserves when Bermuda needed them most — this against the advice of the United Bermuda Party.“Imagine the benefit to the people of Bermuda — that cash reserves would have provided — instead of the additional millions that had to be borrowed because of wasted dollars.”