"Can we afford this Government?" A simple question with a simple answer. No. It is time now to stop dancing around the issue of Bermuda's deteriorating economy. What we have seen over the past number of years with the management of Bermuda's economy is nothing short of a national disgrace. Whilst Rome burns, Nero fiddles. Closer to home – whilst Bermuda burns, the Government fiddles.

As our economy continues its downward spiral we are distracted by false announcements of a "platinum period" in tourism, talk of a rise in economic growth from Government (despite plenty of evidence to the contrary) and debates on the effect of climate change on Bermuda – these all serve as distractions. My fellow Bermudians, we are in serious economic trouble.

Bermuda has a $1 billion dollar debt. Yes, count those nine zeroes: $1,000,000,000. That is approximately $26,000 for every registered voter. Three years ago each registered voter had the burden of $16,000 – now it is $10,000 more. This debt level is simply not sustainable – it needs to be repaid – and who will pay? Don't be fooled, it will be you and me – through tax hikes which were demonstrated in the last budget.

To really show you our dire economic situation, let's make a comparison with a far more diverse economy than that of Bermuda: the UK. The UK's debt is over $1.35 trillion, or $32,000 for every registered UK voter. This amounts to about 12.9 percent of GDP. What does that mean? Well, in 1976 the UK went bust when its debt was five percent of GDP – it took the UK years to crawl out of the abyss.

Bermuda's debt is about 11.2 percent of GDP. The math is clear. We are in serious trouble. This is not scare mongering – it is the cold simple truth. It will take decades to pay off the debt, despite the debt consolidation exercise being undertaken by the Government.

Government needs to be serious about this problem. We need leadership and must be prepared to make tough decisions to stop the rot, the overspending, the lack of accountability, lack of transparency and complete leadership failure.

In the last budget we saw increases in payroll tax which affects every earner and a doubling of Foreign Currency Purchase Tax which affects every importer or anyone who buys goods overseas. Unless the Government is prepared to take tough decisions and stop the spending spree, more taxes will have to be implemented and increased to pay off the debt. What can we do?

We need to reign in frivolous spending. We need to find ways to encourage international business to not just remain in Bermuda, but to come to Bermuda from other jurisdictions.

The Bermuda First report, composed by international business people, has been largely ignored. That is as pathetic as it is sad. It was to be a blueprint for the Government, but like many reports commissioned it has been largely if not wholly ignored.

We ignore international business at our peril; after all it represents well in excess of 60 percent of our economic output. Each time we ignore warnings from international business that we are becoming less attractive to them, more businesses leave and more fail to consider Bermuda as a domicile. We can no longer afford to march to our own beat ignoring those partners and stakeholders who hold the key to our success.

Put simply, as international business trickles away, the demand for office space decreases. Bermuda's residential rental market will also take a tumble as Bermudians will find it harder and harder to find tenants. This in turn means less construction which has fuelled Bermuda's local economy. Less construction means more unemployment.

When international business leaves, the support staff (that is usually Bermudian) are released. Increasingly people will find it difficult to make ends meet. More people will be unable to pay mortgages and less people will be paying taxes. Rapidly we will see our revenue as a country will be washed away as international business leaves our shores.

No longer can we rest on our laurels when other jurisdictions have enviously looked at our success and are actively marketing themselves as the new offshore jurisdiction of choice. We need to do everything in our power to remove red tape and make the jurisdiction attractive again.

Each redomestication is serious and should not be glossed over. Each international business that chooses to set up shop in another jurisdiction means less employment opportunity for Bermudians and less income for Government.

We need to retrain and increase our skill sets to service an ever changing marketplace in international business. We need to be nimble and ensure our education system equips our children with the appropriate skills to compete on a world stage. We need to fast track education system changes — union issues must be solved as a matter of priority. We also need to encourage more Bermudians into tourism and the service industry.

We need to come together as a country. We need to diversify. We need to be prudent with our fiscal management. We need a change in leadership and a change in Government, otherwise in another few years there will be another $10,000 added to the debt of each voter.

We may have weathered storms in the past and come out all the stronger. But this was due to our strong foundations, prudent planning and ability to react to the changing world and circumstances. However, the Progressive Labour Party has ignored the warnings at our peril.

The economic storm that is brewing and playing havoc on our country may continue for years if we simply sit back and wish for the best. Ask yourself – can we afford this? Can we afford this Government? The answer is clear.