Rolfe Commissiong has accused the One Bermuda Alliance of “borrowing liberally” from a motion he tabled in the proposals to demonstrators last week without acknowledging the source.

In discussions with demonstrators, Michael Dunkley, the Premier, offered to “address a living wage and training requirements for Bermudians”.

Meanwhile, in February, Mr Commissiong put forward a motion that called on the House to form a joint select committee to “examine the efficacy of establishing a livable wage for Bermuda”.

The Progressive Labour Party backbencher said: “The fact that my motion also called on us to look at the impact over the last couple of decades of low-cost, foreign sourced labour on the Bermuda workforce and economy was also important, and they borrowed liberally from that, as well in their overall suite of proposals.”

While he said he was pleased to see the Government moving in this direction, he added: “At least give some attribution. Ethically, it was their responsibility to acknowledge that and it would have helped with the bipartisan buy-in.

“Everyone in Bermuda knows the former UBP and now the OBA is not a party philosophically or ideologically in favour historically of putting things like a living wage in place in Bermuda. The business sector has been a large part of their support base, and they would be anathema to that sort of idea.

“I just hope that this new-found interest in the issue is maintained in a few weeks when I move the motion to establish a joint select committee to examine the efficacy of putting in place a living and/or livable wage for Bermuda.”