Former premier Michael Dunkley said the One Bermuda Alliance could have done more to support black Bermudians, but were limited by economic constraints.

Asked about criticism that the OBA did not do enough to help black Bermudians, he said it was a “fair assessment”, adding that he would have liked to have done more.

“The challenge is that we were in a very difficult position,” he said. “Pretty easily we could have made decisions to try to do some things to help people in certain areas, but against the backdrop our hands were tied with budget constraints, with the debt that we had. We didn’t want to encumber ourselves any more.

“The first priority we had was to get the economy on track. We had to bring confidence back into Bermuda. We had to right-size government. Once you have that, you have the foundation of social stability and progress, and I think that foundation has been set.

“Let’s face it, if we tried to please everyone every day we wouldn’t be here today, where Bermuda is in a better position, where now there are opportunities for Bermudians across the board. We would still be fighting those things, and we still would have lost the election.”

Despite the OBA’s devastating loss at the polls last week, Mr Dunkley says he remains proud of the OBA’s record in office.

“We spent 4½ years governing, and we spent no time in that 4½ years campaigning for the next election, and that’s a regret that we have, but we put the country on much firmer footing,” he said.

He said that during the OBA’s time in government, the Progressive Labour Party had made it difficult for them to move forward on initiatives, particularly with the OBA’s slim majority in the House, which only eroded over time.

“The Opposition were intent on getting re-elected. We were intent on improving our country,” he said. “With hindsight being 20/20, I have some regrets looking back, but I take satisfaction in the Bermuda that we live in today.

“We are much better off than we were a few years ago and it’s the responsibility of this government to move the country forward, to deliver on some of the things that have been put in place and deliver on some of the things that they believe can make our country an even better place.

“And now we have the job as the Opposition to hold them to account, to speak on behalf of people when we are concerned about things, but I think our approach will be slightly different. I think we will be there to support when required, but we will also be there to oppose as well.”

He said that race played a big role in the election, with racial rifts forming around a number of big issues including same-sex marriage, Pathways to Status and the airport redevelopment project.

While Mr Dunkley said more work must be done to break down those barriers, he said the OBA was hamstrung by the need to put the island on a better economic footing.

“Many of the initiatives we undertook were trying to put Bermuda in a better position where everyone moves forward, and we had a real mess that we inherited,” he said. “I’m not making excuses, but the first thing we had to do was stabilise because unless you have stability there’s not much you can do.

“We worked hard and progress took longer than we wanted, I guess because some of the issues were deeper than we expected, and we had an Opposition that always pushed back. Now that Bermuda is in much better footing, there will be the opportunity to address some of those issues in a vigilant way.

“We are not out of the woods yet. We still don’t have a balanced budget and, whether you like it or not, those who lend us money and those who rate us really hold the stick on what we can do, and this means our vision had to be focused in a certain way.”