The One Bermuda Alliance is confident that it can win back the government at the next election.

According to Jarion Richardson, the Leader of the Opposition, the country cannot afford another five years of the Progressive Labour Party administration.

That was the message at a public meeting held at the St Peter’s Church hall in St George.

It was standing-room only as an audience of about 50 packed into the hall to hear the OBA’s message: Bermuda needs a change, not just in government, but in outlook.

The audience was first introduced to several sitting MPs and election candidates, all of whom expressed similar reasons for joining the party. They said they believe that if they want change, they have to join the fight for that change.

Mr Richardson acknowledged that the Government’s 30-6 majority in the House of Assembly would seem insurmountable to some, but added: “I look at my daughters, and I refuse to believe that this PLP government is going to be in charge of their futures.”

Mr Richardson said that the party had started reinventing itself two years ago and adopted three core principles: get back to basics, work to make life easier for all Bermudians, and put a halt to the damage caused by the present administration.

He said: “By back to basics, I mean, it’s all very nice having offshore wind farms and offices in Dubai, but it’s more important that the trash is picked up and the buses are running.”

He accused the Government of making life harder for people by stifling growth with bureaucracy.

He said: “If red tape exists, it had better exist for a reason.

“We need to figure out new ways of saying ‘yes’ rather than doubling down on saying ‘no’.”

Mr Richardson outlined five key areas of focus that an OBA administration would tackle right away. They are: strengthening governance, creating a world-class education system, safety and sustainability, improving the standard of living and “repowering” the economy.

He said that new regulations needed to be introduced to improve the accountability of MPs and civil servants.

Claiming that some MPs entered politics to become rich, he said: “We’re incentivising the wrong politician.”

Ben Smith, the party’s deputy leader and MP for Smith’s South, said that the island’s poor public education system was resulting in a brain drain.

He said that public schools had once been on a par with private schools in delivering a world-class education for all, but that standards had dropped, and that the Government had raised a white flag by claiming that public schools could not compete against the private sector.

The way to fight back, Mr Smith said, was to put education back into the hands of experts.

“You have to allow school principals to run their schools,” he said, adding that the OBA would re-establish an independent education authority.

He said: “We are sending our young children away to get educated, but if you send them away, their socialisation is not in Bermuda.

“We need to make these changes. We know we can do it because we did it before. You can send your child to private school, but that shouldn’t be the only choice we have.”

Mr Smith also revealed plans to revamp Hamilton, transforming it into a city that never sleeps.

He said: “Young people need to know there’s going to be something thriving for them to be part of. They don’t want to come to a country that is a dead zone.”

Infrastructure improvements will be funded by public-private partnerships, and the economy will be boosted by attracting high-quality investors “who align to Bermuda’s interests as well as their own”.

“We know they are out there because the OBA brought them here,” Mr Smith said, referring to the party’s one time in office between 2012 and 2017.

“The current Government is busy slicing a shrinking pie. We have to grow that pie.”

Asked by one member of the audience during a Q&A session whether the OBA had a timeline for its plans, Mr Richardson recalled that just months after winning the December 2012 election, the OBA had to increase borrowing, because the former PLP administration had no funding.

“We couldn’t pay the civil servants their salaries,” he said.

“So one of the first jobs we have to do is start collecting all the cans that have been kicked down the road and see which ones have bombs in them.

“Because we know that that is going to happen. We know that there are some things that the Government is not telling us.”

Mr Smith made a similar point. Noting that Bermuda’s population is officially tagged at 64,000 based on a census that is now eight years old, he said: “A lot of planning is based on that 64,000 number and everyone in the community knows that that is not the real number.

“Every decision that the Government is making is based on a number that is not real. So the first thing we are going to have to do is start telling the truth.”