Government is planning to cut its soaring expenses bill by teaming up with American Express for a travel platform.

However, Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards argues the trend which has seen Government's travel budget treble to more than $7.4 million in a decade could easily be reversed — if only Ministers would take less trips and reduce their entourage.

After Premier Ewart Brown announced the AmEx link-up on television on Wednesday night, Mr. Richards likened Bermuda to 'Boondoggle City', an imaginary place where public money is wasted on trivial things.

He told The Royal Gazette: "The problem is in Cabinet. It's a joke. Here they are, having racked up this spending.

"Obviously, you stop travelling, or you travel less, and take less people with you. A middle school child would be able to tell you that.

"A lot of times they travel with entourage. A lot of times I have seen Permanent Secretaries there just to carry their bags."

Mr. Richards added in a statement: "After having tripled annual travel expenditure over ten years, this effort is nothing short of a lame, pathetic attempt to placate the growing chorus of critics."

The Premier released a statement responding to the criticism yesterday.

He explained that discussions began with AmEx in May 2007, and Ministers have now decided the plan would be a "prudent venture". If fully integrated AmEx would receive $50,000 a year, although a six-month pilot programme would be run first. AmEx reports that clients using its platform see an average 10 to 15 percent in savings.

"The Opposition's attempt to somehow take credit for recent developments is lame. In fact, the history of this initiative suggests a Government that is proactive instead of reactive," said Dr. Brown.

Asked how the Opposition was somehow attempting to take credit for recent developments, his Press Secretary Glenn Jones said he believed he was referring to Mr. Richards' comment about the chorus of critics.

In an apparent swipe at The Royal Gazette, the Premier also said: "Furthermore, the Government publicised its plans to reduce travel spending on March 25, 2008, but the announcement was little played in certain media which were focused on other Government cost saving measures."

Cabinet's decision to cut its advertising and subscriptions to The Royal Gazette — almost immediately after this newspaper celebrated Sunshine Week, the international initiative which salutes open government — has attracted criticism from freedom of speech supporters all over the world, who have described it as an attack on the independent media.

And while Government has been specific about how much money it would save from axing Royal Gazette advertising, it has never made any commitment regarding how much it spends on travel other than to say Ministers will exercise greater oversight.

Earlier this month, this newspaper did in fact run a feature about Government travel over the past 15 years — showing how spending has steadily increased since the mid 1990s and risen sharply in the past two or three years. The Premier, who has been Minister of Tourism and Transport since 2004, was offered the chance to contribute to that piece but directed us to Finance Minister Paula Cox.

The financial loss as a result to The Royal Gazette of Government's cancellations is said to be the equivalent of ten editorial jobs. This newspaper employs more than 100 people, 85 percent of whom are Bermudians, and is the only media organisation on the Island offering formal internal and overseas training to its editorial staff.

Expanding on the AmEx deal, Dr. Brown added in yesterday's statement: "It might be helpful to point out that there are ten Ministers in the Cabinet. No matter how hard it tried, it would be impossible to spend even half the allotted travel budget.

"The overwhelming majority of those funds will go to the hundreds of civil servants conducting Government business overseas or receiving training overseas. The vast majority of that travel is vitally important. However we suspect some of it is not.

"That's why on March 25, 2008, the Cabinet told the public Ministers would exercise greater oversight on travel in their Ministries to ensure the public purse was being handled appropriately when it comes to travel.

"Finally, we anticipate that the American Express platform will provide Ministers with the information they need to better monitor where travel expenses are being spent — in essence allowing them to exercise greater oversight.

"It's a healthy, proactive step for the Government. We will have better consolidated travel information, we will have the ability to negotiate better rates for officials conducting Government business overseas and we will be more cost effective with the travel budget.

"All of these measures should produce a result that exhibits financial prudence."