The founder of the Free Democratic Movement promised to improve public health and social conditions, while defending his party’s stance on education.

Marc Bean pledged to reduce the size and scope of government to allow for better freedom of choice and bringing down the cost of living.

He said: “Governments have policies that are put in place that actually exacerbate problems like a lack of jobs and adequate schooling or proper healthcare.

“Governments are making decisions that make it difficult to live an ordinary, enjoyable and peaceful life in this country.

“That’s why a lot of people are migrating out of Bermuda — it’s because of policies that have been put in place over the years that make living in the country unsustainable.”

Mr Bean was speaking during an interview outlining his party’s stances and mission.

He said that he hoped to put in place a “pro-growth agenda” that would shrink the Government to allow for the private sector to thrive.

He explained that a reduction of the Government would lead to decreased government spending, which would result in lower taxes.

These lower taxes, he reasoned, would also lead to a lower cost of living.

This pro-growth agenda, Mr Bean said, relied on several approaches to improve the standard of living, many of which were still being decided on.

When asked about health, Mr Bean said that the party viewed mental health problems as by-products of poor environmental factors.

He said that problems such as crime, lack of opportunity and poor education were the external factors that played into a person’s mental instability.

Mr Bean said that years of poor government decision-making made it difficult for the public to live “an ordinary, enjoyable and peaceful life”, even driving some Bermudians off the island.

He explained that his pro-growth agenda would allow for the social stresses that made people physically and mentally sick to be lessened.

Mr Bean said that self-discipline determined an individual’s state of mind, adding: “Regardless of all the external inputs that create an environment that’s stressful, ultimately the person has to become the master of their own destiny.”

He called it “something that we have to encourage as a government” and said that, after introspection, it began with people forging deeper connections with their family.

“So from the bottom up it starts with the family unit being strengthened.”

Earlier this month, the party released its education policy, where it pledged to keep all of Bermuda’s schools open, contrary to the present education plan of creating parish and signature schools.

Mr Bean admitted that the party received pushback from the public, recalling that some criticised the plan as “fiscally irresponsible”.

Despite apprehensions, he insisted that keeping a school open would be more cost-effective than closing it.

Mr Bean said: “TN Tatem was closed, and as a result of TN Tatem closing, the children were shifted to primarily Sandys Secondary Middle School and to Dellwood Middle School, which are the closest in proximity to Warwick.

“As a result of that shift, to accommodate these students now going into the environment, it costs us an additional $1.4 million per annum to have this new consolidated approach.

“It would have been $1.4 million cheaper per annum to keep TN Tatem open.”

Omar Dill, the regional organiser of the FDM, added that the party would push for more transparency in the performance of schools.

He said: “What we would like to see in our policy is clear data, clear results and knowing for a fact ‘this is the best school on the island, this school has been performing poorly, this middle school performs the second best in sports, this school is the best in math.’

“We want to be able to know that and give parents the choice to think ‘my son is amazing at sports, I need him to go to Whitney Institute because they have a great sports programme’.”

Mr Dill added: “We shouldn’t have to rely on some hidden data that the Government’s presenting on why they’re closing some schools.”