Bermuda would be living within its means under a United Bermuda Party government, Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards told a public meeting.

Mushrooming public debt which the Opposition says is costing taxpayers $40 million a year in interest payments alone has been fuelled by careless spending, lack of cost controls on public projects and a lack of respect for the public purse, according to Mr. Richards.

"If the sun came up and I was Finance Minister, I guarantee you this Country would live within its means," he told 85 people at St. Mary's Church Hall in Warwick on Monday night.

He was joined by Shadow Minister for Public Safety Michael Dunkley and Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson.

In his review of the economy, Mr. Richards claimed Bermuda has been placed in a vulnerable position economically due to the collapse of tourism, the end of a construction boom and recessionary pressures.

This is an unacceptably risky situation, leaving Bermuda relying almost entirely on international business, he said.

"If you've got 100 horses and one of them gets lame you can use all the healthy ones to pay off debt," he said. "But if you've only got one horse and it turns lame, how can you pay off your debts, how can you pay for anything? That's where we are. We have to be very careful."

Mr. Richards was critical of the Government's relationship with international business, which he believes is antagonistic at times.

"It would be a really good idea for Government to feed and nurture that horse rather than to whip it," he commented.

Senator Dunkley, in addressing public safety concerns, said the Government has been slow to react as crime surged and morphed from bladed weapons to guns and from gang fights to drive-by shootings and assassinations.

"There's been a lack of action and little proactive work. We have emergency meetings after the fact and announcements of tough action to follow legislation, strict enforcement of the law, more Police on the streets and they are nothing more than a demonstration of a disconnection," he claimed.

Meanwhile Mrs. Jackson expressed her concern that many public health programmes were badly managed. The United Bermuda Party, she said, would bring sharper focus to the delivery of services, more prudent spending and less reliance on health consultants who cost Bermuda taxpayers millions of dollars every year.

She said the UBP had serious, well-publicised concerns about FutureCare, Government's health insurance programme for seniors. Mrs. Jackson believes it could be better managed.