Opposition Leader Wayne Furbert claimed last night that Government had created a culture in which people who “dare” to speak out against those in power could expect repercussions.

Mr. Furbert said during a speech at a UBP meeting in Smith’s West that the PLP focused on buzzwords and catch phrases which sounded good but meant little.

He said the party excelled at “slogans and empty gestures” but was “failing miserably” to meet the needs of its people.

“Remember ‘the new Bermuda’? What has that come to mean? Remember ‘the social contract’? What was that all about?” he said. “How about ‘sustainable development’? Where is it today?

“Now we have ‘the next level’. So far the next level is a place where Government pits people against each other, where racial slurs are part of public dialogue and where the Government will come after you if you dare to disagree.”

His comments follow the revoking of a Canadian construction worker’s work permit after he rowed with a Government backbencher and an English doctor being asked to resign from the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital after she spoke out against the closing of a clinic.

Mr. Furbert said last night he had never seen the Island “more divided”. “I have never seen our people more anxious,” he said. “I have never seen more doubt and concern for the future.”

Later, during a question and answer session with party members, he repeated comments he made late last year about the prospect of a “dirty” election fight in the near future.

“This is probably going to be the toughest election that we have ever fought in Bermuda,” he said. “We will probably hear more things than we have ever heard before coming out of the mouths of the PLP. This is about turf, this is about power. It’s about greed.”

He cited again the Premier Ewart Brown’s confrontation with former UBP Leader Grant Gibbons in the House of Assembly and Dr. Brown’s use of the term “racist dog”.

“What made it worse was that he invited individuals to come...and see him say it,” said Mr. Furbert. “It was like a show. He has entered that show-type thing and there are some people will follow it.”

He added: “We will take the high road. I really honestly believe that the generation coming behind us doesn’t worry about these things.”

Mr. Furbert also talked about education during the meeting, admitting that the UBP was wrong to restructure the Island’s public school system while in power, creating the two senior “super schools”.

“I was part of the Government that made a decision about CedarBridge and Berkeley,” he said. “I believe we made a mistake.”

He said a UBP Government would not necessarily reverse the change but would work to cut red tape by “shrinking” the Ministry

of Education and giving power to principals and school boards.