Poverty campaigner Sheelagh Cooper has urged the public to vote candidate rather than party after lashing the way the poor have been squeezed under the Progressive Labour Party.

She said much of what has been put forward in the Throne Speech should have been done in the PLP's first term or, at the very least, in the second term.

Several things have been left undone, she said: "Things like rent geared to income in public housing, the Breaking the Cycle initiative and the transitional living facility."

And the Coalition for the Protection of Children (CPC) head added: "It is difficult to understand how a labour government could preside over the increasingly large gap between wages at the lower end of the economic scale and the massive increases in the cost of living.

"In real terms, those in the bottom third of the economic spectrum have lost ground immeasurably since 2000.

"This has resulted in a level of poverty previously unheard of in Bermuda and put enormous economic pressure on a third of Bermudian families."

Ms Cooper said there were some good candidates on both sides but others appeared to be using their political power to feather their own nests.

"I would encourage people to vote for the candidate who they believe will best serve their interests in an open, honest way — rather than strictly voting party lines.

"The two-party system is divisive and has not served Bermuda particularly well."

She conceded there are Ministers within the current Government who understand these issues and have made genuine attempts to effect change.

"Minister Dale Butler, for example, unlike all of his predecessors has met regularly with the CPC and made significant efforts to address the concerns expressed by the struggling families," she said.

But she said Mr. Butler was saddled with some entrenched bureaucrats who long ago lost the compassion that they may once have brought to their work.

She called for a review of:

• The cost of adequately housing, feeding, and sustaining families;

• The cost effectiveness and wisdom of requiring mothers of pre-school children to search for employment rather than remaining at home until their children are of school age;

l The policy governing work within menial and low paying jobs rather than providing financial assistance for a period sufficient for mothers who wish to retrain to more adequately support their family; and

l The policy which includes child support in determining a mother's level of need even though the father is not paying the child support.