The Premier emphasised the health yields from the island’s continuing tax on sugar products after the One Bermuda Alliance party Whip questioned the scheme’s efficacy.

Craig Cannonier highlighted a rise in revenues from the tax, even as retail sales declined, and asked David Burt, who also serves as Minister of Finance, if this was “an indicator that maybe it’s not as effective as we thought”.

Mr Burt responded in the House of Assembly on Friday that the “assumptions are incorrect”.

He added: “It should be noted that Customs duty is ad valorem, which means ‘charged to the value’, and this honourable Member would know there’s been significant increases in the price of these things in the global market due to international trends.”

He added: “We want to talk about health insurance and others things, but the reality is that sugar, high-concentration sugar and these types of things materially impact the cost of health insurance and materially impact the amounts of non-communicable diseases in the country.”

The tax was introduced in 2018 to deter the consumption of high-sugar foods and curb Bermuda’s high levels of obesity and diabetes.

Some have criticised it for driving up food costs while failing to improve public health, while supporters defended it as a strong revenue scheme with noticeable results.

Douglas De Couto, the Shadow Minister of Finance, asked for the total government revenue generated by year.

Mr Burt said figures between the tax’s inception and the 2019-20 fiscal year were public.

However, he said $6.2 million was raised in 2020-21, with $6.6 million in 2021-22, $6.3 million in 2022-23, $7.4 million in 2023-24, $7.4 million in 2024-25 and $7.99 million in 2025-26.

Mr Burt added: “It is important to note the difference between the baseline tax on sugar and the increase which was done.”

When asked if the funds would go towards any specific health-related initiatives, Mr Burt said: “The Government of Bermuda has spent a significant amount on health-related initiatives including the expanse of universal healthcare — all of that comes from the revenue sources that have been created by this government.”