The Progressive Labour Party will go back to its grassroot supporters to help the ordinary man understand what they are doing with the economy by talking directly to the people, said Finance Minister Eugene Cox.

Mr. Cox said that the PLP had proved its critics wrong - and had managed the economy successfully for nearly five years with good growth and economic prosperity - despite the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and a global economic crisis.

"The naysayers and the purveyors of doom and gloom were predicting an economic collapse if the PLP won the election," said Mr. Cox. "Well, we won the election and contrary to the negative prognostications, Bermuda has been blessed as a result of our economic policy and management."

And he said that they would be going to church halls across the Island in a bid to counter the biased press coverage which he said exists across Bermuda which gives his party an unfair hearing.

Mr. Cox said that real GDP had grown by more than seven percent, household income had increased, more than 2,400 jobs had been created, the balance of payments has remained in surplus in very difficult global conditions, inflation has been moderate and the Island has received high credit ratings each year they have been in power.

"The public is going to be quite pleased (with the economy)," he said, adding that it was difficult for his people to see the results of what the PLP were doing as there was not a "good mix of media" in Bermuda with no pro-Government publication and there was therefore difficulty in "getting all sides of the story".

He said that he hoped down the road this would develop and change, but in the meantime the PLP would be going out into the community and having meetings.

"In public meetings we would be telling people who had voted for us, we need to do more of that," he said.

And he wondered how many elections had been lost by the PLP because of the negative publicity spread by the UBP scaremongering about how the PLP would manage the economy.

"Few will forget that abominable UBP advertisement which depicted a doctored and darkened photograph of dread-locked Delaey Robinson lined up in a sniper's cross-hairs, derisively caricatured as a PLP Finance Minister," he said. "Then there was the current UBP leader's prophecy that a PLP government would trigger a mass business exodus of Bermuda. That was the level of the UBP's contribution to any consideration of the management of Bermuda's economy as an election issue in the 1998 campaign."

And he said that the UBP was not using the economy in this election battle because it knew that the PLP had done a "thunderous" good job of keeping Bermuda in business and prospering through difficult global economic times.

Mr. Cox said that his Government had also helped spread economic opportunity on Island by allowing people who had not previously had a slice of the economic pie to participate.

He said that this had been achieved by dividing up contracts in a way that would allow smaller contractors to bid for smaller amounts of the contract - a move which had allowed smaller players to come into the fray when it came to Government contracts.

"Small businesses are benefiting from the opportunities created," he said. "It has let some other people bid for contracts that may have not been able to do so because of the size of the total contract before. Otherwise it would be the same group of people who get the work all the time. This gives us the capacity to spread economic wealth."

But he refused to be drawn into the controversy over the new secondary school development, which is going to replace Berkeley Institute. The contract was awarded to Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. - a move heavily criticised because the company had little experience of such big jobs and little financial backing. The project has fallen behind for a number of reasons and Mr. Cox said he preferred if all questions about the project were referred to Works Minister Alex Scott.

Mr. Cox also pointed to the PLP safeguarding Bermuda's good name in the face of the challenges offered up by the scrutiny of the likes of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

"Government convinced this international body (the OECD) that Bermuda was not a harmful tax jurisdiction and was committed to information exchange between tax administrations," said Mr. Cox. "As a consequence Bermuda was not listed as a `tax haven' in the OECD's June, 2000 report. Bermuda was viewed as a jurisdiction with strong anti-money laundering legislation and practices by the FATF."

Mr. Cox said he was pleased with progress on unemployment insurance which had been continuing behind the scenes. He said the $1 million set aside for this scheme was being used to talk to the stakeholders and businesses about how to best implement this measure.

He said his ministry was liasing with employers on this matter and when this was done he would like to wrap it up after the election - if the PLP is elected and he continues as Finance Minister.

Mr. Cox also said that the policy of zero budgeting had been a great success, and so far it had spread to about 70 percent of the Ministries and he hoped that it would span them all within the next few years.

And he pointed to the PLP's efforts in the tourism world, stating that David Allen's groundbreaking Hotels Concessions Act led to the sustained flow of investment in the refurbishment of hotels.

"I am not given to blowing my own horn, but I must say that the PLP's economic record is an impressive one," added Mr. Cox.