Much of Parliament’s eleven-hour Throne Speech debate revolved around whether or not the Island was truly making a recovery from the economic recession.

Marc Bean, in the Progressive Labour Party’s reply, maintained that real growth had yet to revitalise an economy that he said remained saddled with deep-seated structural problems.

Shawn Crockwell, the Minister of Transport and Tourism Development, responded that the Opposition sought to “distort facts and disseminate false information”.

Mr Crockwell told the House of Assembly that a former leader of the PLP government had admitted as much in a public speech, calling for the Opposition to “put out misinformation as often as you can”.

Pointing to hotel developments and rising retail sales, the minister maintained that the Island was recovering economically, and charged the former PLP government with economic mismanagement. Opposition MP Zane DeSilva hit back at the notion of PLP spending as money wasted, pointing to the former administration’s infrastructural accomplishments — and the previous United Bermuda Party government’s record of overspends on projects such as Tynes Bay and Westgate prison.

Government MP Glen Smith told MPs “the confidence is there” when it came to overseas investment, saying the GDP had grown for the first time in seven years and unemployment had fallen. Mr Smith, who runs an automotive business, added that car purchases were up 30 per cent and one bank was offering 100 per cent financing for cars.

“The recession is over,” the Devonshire North West MP said, conceding that it was not yet where the Government wanted it to be.

Meanwhile, Grant Gibbons, the Minister of Economic Development, said GDP statistics “show very clearly three quarters of economic growth”.

Jamahl Simmons, the Progressive Labour Party MP for Sandys South, argued that stagnating wages and skyrocketing healthcare costs were among the multitude of problems yet to be properly addressed.

“Most of us have the spirit of gratitude,” he said. “But part of that gratitude must be honesty because we do our people a disservice if we’re not honest about the true state of the economy.

“For some, the recovery has begun. For others, it has not. We have two Bermudas — separate and unequal.”