Opposition leader Michael Dunkley said his party deserved to lose the 1998 election but had now regained its footing.

In a speech to the Sandys Rotary Club, he said that like the UBP of 1998, the current Government had lost sight of its role and needed a "time out".

Speaking of 1998 UBP defeat he said: "The party had lost its way. It was divided and bickering. It was unsure of itself.

"Being voted into Opposition was a good thing," he said.

"It was good for the United Bermuda Party and it was a good for the country. In fact I would say it was one of the best things that ever happened to us.

"It caused us to reassess who we were and what we meant to the country."

But he said the current UBP had been humbled and learned from its time out of Government.

He said the party had been "reborn" and was filled with down-to-earth people, from different backgrounds.

Bermuda needed a plan, he said, and a Government that was accountable and transparent.

And he said that while there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the PLP it was time for them to spend time in as the Opposition

"It's time for their leadership to relearn the point of Government, which is to work for the people, to build houses and educate our children, to care for people who need care and to plan for the future."

He claimed that they continued to call his party "evil" and "morally bankrupt" because they were trying to divert attention from their track record.