should be seen as a lack of concern by Government for the Bermuda environment we all want to protect. Where Government once led in the preservation of Bermuda it has changed and become careless about the amenities of Bermuda as we know and admire them. We see this change as favouritism at the expense of the Country. It can only result in a general deterioration of public care and concern.

The Minister of Transport would have Bermuda think that a used-car market is progress when, in fact, it is destructive. We find the decision, which must have been agreed to by the Cabinet, very cynical because the Minister has made a transparent attempt to cloak what is a car dealers accommodation in some nonsense about providing cars for the poor. It's clearly for local dealers to sell regular new cars to the rich and have a second used-car market because we are not going to allow the sale of imported second-hand cars where the poor might get a real break.

If the Minister of Transport truly cared about the poor having cars for transport, he would have asked the Minister of Finance to cut the huge duty on cars. But no, he arranged second-hand cars to please car dealers whose sales, like everyone else's sales, have been hit by the recession. He gave car dealers breaks on bigger cars and now a sales boost at the expense of the Country and tried to cloak that boost in nonsense about assisting the poor with cars. He did that while cutting rather than improving the bus and ferry service.

We would have been much happier if the Minister had simply said that the UBP wanted to help out its friends and supporters in the car business and thought that was worth cluttering up the chaotic roads at a time when the top complaint by visitors, Bermuda's livelihood, is traffic conditions. We hope that when the roads become impossible and Government decides that we need wider roads, the car dealers are going to pay.

There was no public outcry against the car laws, no letters to the Editor, nor was there a public move for second-hand cars. If Government had responded to public suggestions for change we could understand the new law but it did not.

We can only think that the pressure came from car dealing UBP friends.

From the United Bermuda Party's point of view, we would have thought that someone in the hierarchy of the ruling party might have realised that public concern for Bermuda would not be met by agreeing to a large percentage increase in cars. There is already great public concern, even anger, over the Government giving themselves second GP cars while restricting the people to one car per household. Now the UBP Government is damaging the Country for a few car dealers. It's politically most unwise for the UBP. We think it may be a major blunder.

At the last election the public sent the UBP a message. That message was beware, take care of Bermuda and our money and stop being arrogant. That was the message the people sent when they reduced the UBP majority and voted heavily for the NLP's Graeme Outerbridge and elected the green candidate Stuart Hayward. The message of Stuart Hayward was protest at a lack of care for Bermuda and for Bermuda's cash. The people who protested are alarmed again over second-hand cars. We think it was a stupid thing for the UBP to agree.