Opposition leader Kim Swan declared it a "sad day for democracy" after his party was given no opportunity to debate Cabinet Office spending yesterday.

Premier Ewart Brown used an entire two-hour morning session allocated for the debate to deliver a detailed statement on the 2010/11 budgets for the Cabinet Office, Department of Statistics and Department of Human Resources.

He sat down with 30 seconds left to go, at which point Mr. Swan got to his feet to denounce the Government for not allowing proper scrutiny of the current account estimates.

Mr. Swan barely managed two sentences before party colleague Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, who was chairing the session, told him time had run out after what she termed the Premier's "monologue".

The UBP leader told The Royal Gazette afterwards: "I think what we have seen is rather immature. It's a good governance issue. The Government has failed to provide the scrutiny of the Budget in one of the most important ministries.

"Had I been afforded the opportunity to debate it I would have shared areas of concern relating to the increased budget that Cabinet departments have received.

"His Cabinet Office has not led by example. They have grown out of control. Everybody was expecting Government to cut by ten percent. His Cabinet Office has to set the tone for other departments."

Dr. Brown opened his brief by stating that $6.84 million was allocated for the Cabinet Office this year, a six percent increase on the $6.47 million set aside last year.

But Mr. Swan said the increase was greater as last year's $6.47 million figure included $633,000 for the Internal Audit.

The Internal Audit is now a separate department, so its $1.73 million allocation for 2011/11 is not included in the Cabinet Office's $6.84 million.

The UBP politician pointed out that the budget for the Central Policy Unit has risen 94 percent this year — from $640,000 to $1.24 million.

"That's absolutely absurd," said Mr. Swan. "The fact that we couldn't even spend five minutes on that, let alone half an hour."

He added: "There is over a million dollars allocated for professional services, i.e. consultants. We would have drilled down on that. In this two-hour filibuster there was no real examination of the expenditures. He didn't break anything down. He is the master of distracting people away from the real issues."

The Premier's 73-page brief — which he frequently strayed from to deliver off-the-cuff remarks — covered a myriad of topics including Bermuda's Washington DC office, the JumpStart intern programme, sustainable development, public access to information, a new media council, the proposed national service programme, the review of the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George and the 2010 census.

When the Opposition suggested he was straying from the Budget line items, he said he had no intention of sitting down.

As his speech wound down, he frequently asked Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin how much time was left, asking her to advise him when 30 seconds were remaining.

As his PLP colleagues chuckled and Opposition members shook their heads, he gave lengthy thanks to Cabinet Office staff, including the cleaners and the "numerous consultants".

He then made an apparent reference to $104,000-a-year race relations expert Rolfe Commissiong, who hit the headlines last week after he was accused of calling a member of Bermuda Democratic Alliance a "house nigger" in the gym.

Dr. Brown said Cabinet Office consultants "worked harder than the daily coverage of their conversations might indicate".

"They help me to prepare for meetings I might have. They do the kind of work that they might not discuss in the gym. But they work and provide a support service to this Government."