Bermuda will return the Progressive Labour Party to Government at the next General Election, Premier Paula Cox told party supporters this weekend.“We’re going to do some nation-building right here at home,” she said, quoting former South African president Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural address.“There’s never been a better time to build. We have the slate, we have the bricks and mortar and we are ready. We will not go back. We will not back down and we will continue to turn up the heat and the volume.Ms Cox’s remarks formed her keynote address at the Progressive Labour Party’s annual conference banquet.“We will be going back as your Government and we will be moving Bermuda forward, forward to the future and I am confident we will win at the polls in this year’s general election.”The Premier said that the Party would continue to meet the needs of the vulnerable but “not at the expense of the middle class”.She complained in her speech of “monthly polls and daily attacks on the Government” since the election year began.“Months of excessive finger pointing, months of attempts to exploit fear and foster division, all to score political points,” she said.“Our people have had enough. So much so that for some it seems it does not matter who wins the next election. I’m here tonight to tell you that such a view could not be further from the truth. It absolutely does matter.”She called on the disenchanted not to forget that the PLP was different from its Opposition.“Our party has a very different tone, a different direction,” Ms Cox said.And she insisted that the choice in the election is between “a plan for the future or a plan to go backwards to the failed UBP policies in a repackaged model”.She warned: “Make no mistake — when we are attacked in this campaign, we will respond aggressively.”Ms Cox told her audience that the PLP will “vigorously promote its ten-point plan”.“It is a sound platform for the future. We have a strong policy to protect the environment and a healthcare policy that is both affordable and accessible. Educating all our children is the cornerstone of a successful Bermuda.“Ours is a winning agenda and that means it is an agenda that will unite our Country not divide it.”Ms Cox asked her audience to consider Bermuda before the PLP came into power.“There were no Phil Butterfields running banks,” she said. “There was no Brown and Co, just Smith’s and Triminghams. There were no Cheryl Listers or Jeremy Coxs heading the regulatory authority.”She said: “Talk shows were far less open and free flowing. No one can legitimately accuse us of muzzling free speech. Blogs, no matter how vicious, no matter how vitriolic, no matter how politically incorrect some of those on the blogs may be, everyone has a voice that can be heard and we take fairness to a fault and we respect the right to disagree.”The PLP had “inherited a divided Country where a forgotten group of people had been sidelined”, Ms Cox continued.“We have changed the equation. Now it’s people first. We took a pledge to work everyday on behalf of Bermudians and we have never wavered on our commitment.”She acknowledged that not all the party’s goals had been achieved. “Life remains hard for many Bermudians, the economy is still struggling. There are not enough jobs and too many of our youth have lost their way but we cannot allow where we are today to determine the progress we make tomorrow.”Ms Cox said that the global economic recession presented governments with a choice between “investment and austerity and investment”.“We chose to invest in our people. But here’s what the opposition will never admit — we did it in such a fiscally responsible way that our debt remains proportionately among the lowest in the developed world.”In contrast, the One Bermuda Alliance had made “irresponsible promises” without explaining how they would be paid for, she said.“The OBA is the on-again, off-again party, a party that will change its position on the fly depending on which political game they are playing or which constituency they are wooing.”She went on to say the challenges to be overcome included restoring economic stability, fostering “competitiveness and partnerships”, and reforming “public expenditure”.“Our experience means we understand the problems Bermudians face. And when we are returned to Government after the coming election, as we absolutely will be, we can hit the ground running to solve the issues.”While the party waxed nostalgic about aspects of its history, Ms Cox’s predecessor Ewart Brown was notably absent in the speeches and accolades that were sprinkled around in the nearly filled to capacity banquet hall at Fairmont Southampton on Saturday night.Two former Premiers Dame Jennifer Smith and Alex Scott occupied the “high table” reserved for VIPs.Dr Brown is believed to be off the Island.But he was practically erased from history in an audio-visual montage presented to the audience as a warm-up to what was billed as “The Big Speech”. The montage contained video footage of the PLP’s 2007 election victory rally, but Dr Brown barely made an appearance in the piece, despite the fact that he was Party leader and Premier at the time.