In this Hallowe’en season, the Government is not missing out on the opportunity to give out treats. While to some, the offerings appear sweet, many others refuse to be tricked.

It seems that as we get closer to a General Election, the Progressive Labour Party would like people to think it is providing sweet deals.

We have had announcements, press conferences and much fanfare.

Ministers are saying revenue is more than they expected, so they will have treats to give away. Don’t forget that these are the taxes that were collected from you, the people of Bermuda — not new money that appears by magic.

Essentially, the PLP is using your money to buy your vote.

Let’s look closely at some of the treats that the Government wants you to be excited about.

Twenty-five new police officers. With officer numbers at a critical low, why wasn’t this already budgeted?

When discussing the new extra funding, the national security minister told the Lower House that the Bermuda Police Service were struggling to recruit locally. But he couldn’t answer how the BPS would fill these roles when they are facing this dilemma. With the crime issues in Bermuda and the BPS stretched, why was this not a priority in the original Budget? Or last year? Or the year before that? Now we are at a police level closer to the Seventies, while the brand of crime has become more complicated and significantly more deadly.

This is not a new treat that the PLP should pat itself on the back for. This is a necessity that should have been addressed. The One Bermuda Alliance solution to make the community safer would be to ramp staffing levels up to par — and not as an afterthought.

The Government has said it intends to replace bodycams for police and will complete the CCTV project.

Once again, these are items that were already identified as needed, yet they were not in the original Budget. Now we should clap and cheer because they are mentioned in a press conference or a statement?

Fixing the drains, paving the roads, cutting back the trees. These are odd treats. Aren’t these normal services that should have been covered in the Budget? This happens when you neglect things for so long and the people are fed up. Now the trick is making Bermuda think normal services are a treat.

This PLP government has been in power for the bulk of the past 25 years. This government has created so many problems, yet now it wants to act as though it is finding solutions.

Now it is taking your tax money and trying to make you think it is providing a treat.

Don’t be fooled.

The PLP will try to spin its green thread to make you overlook its last seven years of inadequacy and incompetence, and place the blame everywhere else besides where it belongs — squarely on the Government’s shoulders.

Its Bermuda migration plan is the most anti-Bermudian plan there is, but its candyman wants to quote Bob Marley.

He is the one with the cap, he is the one who has to wear it — and the trick of handing out treats is falling flat.

The OBA’s solution is to get the job done and stop pretending that press conference soundbites are the be-all and end-all.

If the PLP had been doing its job, it would not be such a treat for basics to be provided.

Pave the roads. Pick up the trash. Cut back the overgrowth. Repower the economy so that three quarters of us aren’t looking for a way to leave.

The only way to get to the solution is to stop paying the sugar tax for the PLP treats and vote them out.

Be aware, the PLP is providing basic unbudgeted necessities as the treat and hoping you fall for the trick.

• Ben Smith is the Deputy Leader of the One Bermuda Alliance and the MP for Smith’s South (Constituency 8)