If the Government is trying to have its cake and to eat it too by taking credit for the Progressive Labour Party's accomplishments over the past 12 years but put the mistakes of the last 12 years behind it, then the Opposition United Bermuda Party has an equally difficult task: to show willingness to work with the Government on the problems facing Bermuda without sacrificing its function as the Opposition and government in waiting.

That's not an easy path to follow, although not so difficult either if a party is certain of what its beliefs and principles are and follows them. In other words, agree or compromise on those measures that are in line with your principles and oppose and disagree with those that are not. Opposition Leader Kim Swan largely hewed to that line in his Reply.

He rightly mocked the Government's efforts to paint the Cox Administration as a new beginning when all of the Cabinet except Minister without Portfolio Michael Weeks (who is also the newest PLP MP) have served in the Cabinet before, and Ms Cox herself has been there since 1998. Similarly, the move to create an office of procurement in the Cabinet Office was welcomed, but only because Ms Cox is perceived to be honest.

The real problem with the tendering of capital projects has not been the systems in place for them, but the degree of political interference that has been permitted, including under Ms Cox's watch as Finance Minister. Mr. Swan was right too to criticise the Government's failure to anticipate the global recession and to take steps to prepare Bermuda for it, and for allowing the construction bubble to grow so much. At the same time, little was done to control Government spending, meaning that for the last two years, Government has been unable to earn sufficient revenue to pay for current account spending, the household equivalent, as Mr. Swan said, of borrowing money to buy the groceries.

On two levels, the Opposition is right to criticise the Government on this. The UBP, or any other Opposition party, needs to show that it is more fiscally prudent than the PLP, and certainly in the UBP's case, this has been historically true. If anything, the UBP was faulted for being too prudent and for not spending enough on social problems. Right now, that does not look like such a bad approach. So in terms of principles and philosophy, the UBP is right to follow this line. It also makes tactical sense. The PLP has now been shown to be weak on the economy and financial management, so the Opposition needs to take advantage of this in order to show that it would be a better government. At the same time, the UBP and the Bermuda Democratic Alliance also need to show what they would do differently.

In some areas, Mr. Swan provides a strong list of proposals, including freezing hiring in the civil service, cutting consultants and easing term limit controls. This would reduce Government spending while giving incentives to business to invest and hire. Cutting taxes for the lowest bands of lowest income earners is a riskier proposition because the danger is that doing so would reduce Government revenues without necessarily putting that money to work in the economy. Had it been done in 2007, when the UBP first proposed it, it might well have worked better.

The UBP also lays out valid proposals for better transparency and integrity in Government. This again is a weakness for the PLP, so both on principles and tactics this makes sense. Indeed, the two glaring legislative omissions in the Throne Speech are a Whistleblower Act — first promised in 2005 — and reform of the Island's corruption laws — first proposed by the Department of Public Prosecutions around the same time. Government can and should implement these laws as a matter of urgency. On crime, the UBP also repeats its calls for looking at Operation Ceasefire, as has this newspaper. Over the next few weeks and months, the public will see how genuine the Government is in its calls for unity and cooperation and how the Opposition parties react.

One thing is certain; the public is indeed tired of unnecessarily divisive politics and is hungry for leadership. Will the Island's politicians respond?