The United Bermuda Party did not know whether to laugh or cry at the 2005/06 Budget yesterday.

Seven years and nearly four billion dollars after the PLP was elected to Government, Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said yesterday, the social fabric of the community was coming apart at the seams.

?Nothing ? not even so-called watershed social agendas ? can hide the PLP Government?s lack of substantial progress in providing affordable housing, reforming the healthcare system, improving life for seniors, transforming public education, tackling drugs, reducing gang violence, improving tourism, and generating economic development and empowerment,? he stated in his Reply to the Budget Statement in the House of Assembly yesterday morning.

Instead, the Budget Statement was full of promises ? the same promises that the PLP have been making for seven years and are no closer to achieving than they were in 1998, he said.

However Dr. Gibbon?s suggestion that Government?s effort amounted to an Election Budget left Deputy Premier Ewart Brown pleased: ?That?s a code word for a Budget that?s on point ? a Budget that could get you elected?.

And Finance Minister Paula Cox, whose remarks prefaced Dr. Gibbons? Reply, said the Budget put the meat on the bones of the Social Agenda: ?The Social Agenda is meaningless, empty political rhetoric, unless there is substance to back it up ... There is substance in this Budget.?

Dr. Gibbons? official Reply strongly disagreed.

The truth is found in both the numbers and the language, he said. Though Government claimed the people came first, just $3.9 million out of $19 million in new money will be spent in the coming year ? the year of the Social Agenda ? on social programmes.

?That?s not even as much as their travel budget,? Dr. Gibbons said.

Meanwhile the Budget Statement itself belied Government?s position on housing. ?Listen to the language ... ?plans are already underway or at the launch phase? and ?plans are at an advanced stage?.

?Four Housing Ministers later we?re still hearing about unfinished plans. But there is still no real, true, comprehensive housing plan with measurable objectives and strategies ? although the Minister claims it?s holistic and in his head.?

The recently-announced policy prohibiting the sale of certain properties owned by Bermudians to non-Bermudians will have unintended consequences, Dr. Gibbons added. ?If the PLP was concerned about fronting and fraudulent use of trusts, why didn?t the Minister introduce amending legislation or, where appropriate, use his powers under the current Act to decline a license for such sales to proceed.

?This policy does nothing, absolutely nothing, to increase the availability of affordable housing to Bermudians or assist young Bermudians to purchase their first home.?

The sorry truth is, he said, ?that the PLP Government hasn?t come close to addressing the fundamental housing needs of our community?.

What Government has been doing is spending, he said.

That spending is driving up inflation, adding more pressure to the stress Bermudians are already under as they battle to deal with the cost of living. Meanwhile, the public is paying excessive taxes such as payroll tax while Government continues to wildly miscalculate revenues.

Such taxes are monies that Dr. Gibbons reasoned Bermudians would far rather spend themselves than have Government spend for them. ?That money should have stayed with the taxpayer and gone towards rents, mortgages, savings or college education.?

As for Finance Minister Paula Cox?s declaration that the PLP Government has not increased public debt, Dr. Gibbons agreed ? ?but it?s certainly not due to lack of trying?.

Government?s failure to move ahead on significant capital projects such as the new senior secondary school was one reason public debt has not increased, he said. ?You don?t need to borrow as much for work that isn?t finished or hasn?t even begun.?

Underestimated revenues from taxes was another reason ? windfalls from payroll tax, for example, went towards capital projects that would otherwise have increased public debt.

The result? Government has miscalculated borrowing by more than a quarter-billion dollars, Dr. Gibbons said. ?We?re sure the Minister was delighted with all that unexpected revenue, but the taxpayer was taking it on the chin in unnecessarily high taxes.?

As for Government?s success at reducing public debt, that did not mean much to Dr. Gibbons, who pointed out they were required to do so by laws set in place by the former UBP Government.

Government was putting all its eggs in one basket with international business, he added.

?With Bermuda?s competitive edge on the line, and a flagging second pillar in tourism, ?any serious challenge to that sector will have catastrophic results... When growth in tourism slowed, we had international business to fall back on for jobs and revenue.

?After nearly seven years of PLP Government, we have nothing to back up international business.?

As for tourism, Dr. Gibbons called the ?sizzle and pop? initiatives being implemented in Tourism a trip down memory lane.

The Minister, the third in six years, ?has visited Africa and Italy and can?t wait to milk the South American and Chinese markets. ?If it weren?t so serious, it would be funny ... Bermuda recorded one of the worst performances (in 2004) of the 32 organisations measured by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation.?

Tourism must remain a vital part of the economy, Dr. Gibbons said. ?Government must get out of the way ... A Tourism Authority, led by professionals, is essential to reviving Bermuda?s once-vibrant tourism sector.?

Seniors are still suffering as pension increases fall behind inflation and the PLP fails to combat healthcare challenges, instead preferring to ?pass the buck to a Health Council rather than tackle the hard decisions themselves,? Dr. Gibbons said.

Transparency also continued to be lacking in the Budget, Dr. Gibbons said.

Noting that funds for the Bermuda Independence Commission had been ?apparently buried? somewhere within the Cabinet Office budget, Dr. Gibbons also raised the spectre of anti-corruption legislation, promised by Premier Alex Scott in the wake of the Bermuda Housing Corporation scandal ? legislation which did not appear in the Throne Speech or since.

?If a government can?t hold itself accountable ? whether the behaviour in question is unethical, illegal, or demonstrates clear conflict of interest ? then Bermuda should have legislation in place for them.

?That?s why the UBP has tabled a motion to discuss ... the importance of anti-corruption legislation in Bermuda. Sadly, it?s not a motion we ever expected to be debating, but recent events demonstrate the need for attention to this issue.?

Recounting UBP proposals for economic empowerment, healthcare, and good-government, Dr. Gibbons said the UBP was chomping at the bit for the chance to restore people?s faith in Government.

?When the Finance Minister says that this budget lays ?the foundation for the final phase of the transformation to the New Bermuda?, we don?t know whether to laugh or cry,? he said. ?The next UBP Government is ready to stand and deliver.?

Speaking first after Dr. Gibbons, Dr. Brown noted that his Reply itself amounted to an Election Reply. ?I would?ve expected something that went beyond electioneering.?

He joined Finance Minister Paula Cox, who prefaced Dr. Gibbons? statement, in saying that the Budget 2005/06 will produce ?tangible and meaningful? benefits ? citing, like Ms Cox, small business owners who have already expressed their joy in the new tiered payroll tax structure.

?We do have to have a reality check, be cognisant of the challenges that lay ahead,? Ms Cox said, who cautioned the public to remember that fiscal readiness is all.