Commonwealth.

One benefit ignored was an across-the-board education and training programme for Bermudians, it is claimed.

Shadow Finance Minister Mr. Eugene Cox said the programme could have been set up through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation.

Under it, training could be provided in health and social welfare, fisheries, trade expansion, and monetary and fiscal development, Mr. Cox claimed.

"Let the record show that the Progressive Labour Party has always espoused the need for a comprehensive training scheme,'' he added. "This has been repeated in our platform from the beginning.'' Mr. Cox added: "The irony is that while Government blithely extolled the virtues of membership in the Commonwealth, they failed to maximise the benefits.'' He said the PLP had recently called for an alliance between business, Government, and labour.

"Bermuda is at an impasse. There is the need and the urgency to chart a new course.'' Mr. Cox went on to slam the United Bermuda Party's record of Government over the last 25 years.

"Let history record that they have been the party who have presided over this Country, while in recent years, we have seen some of the fiercest assaults on our quality of life.

"So the question in people's minds must be who has been minding the store for the last two and a half decades?'' Mr. Cox said figures showed the number of jobs had shrunk by 1,800 since 1988.

"Bermudian males are the category that have suffered the highest loss of jobs,'' he said.

"A number have lost not only their jobs, their homes and their cars, but also their hopes and dreams.'' Mr. Cox said up to 9,000 jobs had been created for overseas workers over the last 25 years.

This emphasised the dire need for the training of Bermudians, he said.