The Government has defended its criticised cost of living amendments, maintaining that it has kept “steadfast and focused” on creating a more affordable Bermuda.

Speaking on the Government’s Leaders on the Record podcast, Alexa Lightbourne, the Minister of Home Affairs, said her ministry has been prioritising affordability across all sectors as part of its efforts to address the costs facing consumers.

While the Cost of Living Commission Amendment (No 2) Bill 2026 has drawn criticism from the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce and retailers, the minister said that the cost of living was the greatest concern of the public.

Ms Lightbourne said: “We recognise and have been in close consultation with retailers for some time, and I don’t anticipate that they would welcome any sort of transparency and oversight over the supply chain costs and how they arrive at cost on the shelf.

“I don’t expect that they would invite that, but just as we may not enjoy taking a driver’s licence test or we might not enjoy having to pay taxes, this is a regulatory measure to ensure that there is not only fairness but there is also transparency.”

She added that it was important for the Government to know that the duty relief it has offered for essential goods was being passed on to consumers.

Ms Lightbourne said: “These are the items the Government is targeting. It is not the items that don’t receive duty relief, but the items that the Government has forgone funds on behalf of the people.”

Ms Lightbourne said that the Government was “absolutely not” attempting to control retailers, but ensuring that the duty relief measures on essential goods were genuinely helping Bermudians at the register.

The Cost of Living Commission Amendment (No 2) Bill 2026 was passed in July by the House of Assembly but delayed by the Senate after resistance from retailers.

The amendments would enable price-increase controls on essential commodities and allow for the designation, price-information monitoring and price sharing of critical services.

However, retailers said the measures included were administratively burdensome, particularly for fresh, healthy goods which can fluctuate in price rapidly based on international factors.

In a statement this week, the Chamber of Commerce critiqued the legislation’s core means of “compulsory monthly cost filing, a 5 per cent notice-and-freeze, ministerial power to disallow” as simplistic and prone to backfiring.

The chamber also argued that forcing companies to hand over cost-structuring details would leave businesses exposed without meaningful confidentiality protection.

Ms Lightbourne, however, said that the Government was focused on reducing costs for consumers and, if data shows that duty relief is not having the desired impact, then the Government needs to reconsider how it can offer relief.

She said that because of the lack of transparency, consumers may believe that the cost on the shelves are the result of abuse or government interventions.

Ms Lightbourne added: “Neither are we suggesting is true, but what we are saying is we need to be able to better understand how we arrived at the price, we need to better understand the supply-chain cost.”

She added that a greater understanding of supply-chain costs would also assist the Government as it works to mitigate the impact of international issues.

Ms Lightbourne said the Government is looking to advance legislation to address market abuse and encourage competitiveness in the market.

She said: “We have seen things where what was once a singular supplier has now purchased other suppliers and now they are the only game in town.

“Does that allow for there to be fair markets, fair share, fair prices given to Bermudians or are they just required to use this one particular resource without having the ability to choose another option?”

Ms Lightbourne said that the Government seeks to expand the powers of the Regulatory Authority to allow it to collaborate with other regulatory bodies to consider the impact of mergers and acquisitions on competitiveness.