Andrew Simons attacked the Progressive Labour Party for its approach to a wide range of issues in the Senate yesterday.

In a speech made during the motion to adjourn, the One Bermuda Alliance senator declared “hypocrisy is real” in the PLP.

Mr Simons told the Upper House: “Last week, we acknowledged the 50th anniversary of Bermuda’s constitution.

“Our constitution does not protect queer Bermudians and it doesn’t protect women — the protections for women only come in the Human Rights Act, which is really a piece of anti-discrimination legislation.”

While the debate took place, the Supreme Court upheld a constitutional challenge to the Domestic Partnership Act, ensuring gay couples again have the right to marry.

No senators responded directly to the issue of marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Mr Simons also described the “bemused” reaction of members of the PLP to the announcement by David Burt that a national holiday would be granted to recognise the Portuguese community.

Mr Simons, who described the move as “political pandering”, said the community should be celebrated but questioned “the absence of meaningful pathways towards citizenship in Bermuda”.

In response, PLP senator Anthony Richardson described the move by the Premier as bold and highlighted why it had been met with “mixed emotions” by some in the black community.

He said: “You have a black Premier taking a very active step to recognise the Portuguese community in the context of the black Bermudian community still having many unresolved issues that stem from discrimination. Some of those realities still exist today.”

Mr Richardson pointed to the example of black people in the past not being permitted to buy property in certain areas.

PLP senator Vance Campbell said that his party had helped the Portuguese by giving them a pathway to PRC status, but added: “That should not be the final stopping place for that Portuguese community.”

Turning to healthcare costs, Mr Simons said increased fees for diagnostic imagers will push up health insurance premiums.

Mr Richardson interjected to say that his party had moved towards the “containment of costs in Bermuda”, including the formation of the Cost of Living Commission and the Living Wage Committee, while reviewing taxes.

Mr Simons then raised the issue of finance, highlighting that there had been “a lot of action by the PLP in the area of foreign investment”, including the Bermuda Infrastructure Fund and numerous memorandums of understanding.

Mr Simons said: “When the OBA negotiated foreign investment on the island, it was the source of protests and endless criticism. When the PLP negotiates foreign investment there is silence from those same civil society entities.”

Mr Campbell responded that the protests surrounding the airport redevelopment “wasn’t anti-investment, it was anti-giving away a major asset of this country for a significant period of time”.

Mr Simons clarified that it was control of the asset, not the asset itself.

Mr Simons also expressed concerns over “an issue of anti-democratic behaviour” towards the independent judiciary.

He said: “The current government has been quite hostile to the notion of an independent judiciary for a number of months and I highlight the two subjects of immigration and same-sex marriage.

“In both instances the PLP took steps to cut the legs from under that judiciary by removing the supremacy of the Human Rights Act over other pieces of legislation.”

Attorney-General Kathy Lynn Simmons responded: “The judiciary is actually the sitting judges, the judicial department is the administration of that bench, so he needs to be clear before he makes inflammatory remarks as to what the system is in terms of structure.”

She later accused Mr Simons of using the motion to adjourn to “advance frivolous, inaccurate and unsubstantiated rhetoric”.

• UPDATE: this article has been amended to make clear that Anthony Richardson referred to blacks’ inability to buy property in certain areas in the past rather than in all of Bermuda