What was expected to be a mammoth Budget debate yesterday lasted only a few hours, with just four MPs — two from each party — contributing to the discussion on one of the most important events in the political calendar.

Two different pictures of the economy emerged from the debate.

Wayne Furbert, the Junior Minister of Finance, began by calling into question the figures Dr De Couto used in his Budget Reply.

He went on to accuse the Shadow Minister of Finance of “making these numbers up”.

He said: “Every one of us respects the Auditor-General. We respect the professionals in the Ministry of Finance. And the honourable member comes up with these numbers and no one knows where they came from.”

“You just can’t make these numbers up. The honourable member here has very little facts.”

Mr Furbert demanded more information on the One Bermuda Alliance’s proposed “moderate and transparent approach” to the island’s finances.

He also questioned where an OBA government would get the money to fund initiatives.

Mr Furbert went on to say that the PLP reduced taxes while the OBA had raised them.

He added: “Let the numbers speak from themselves.

“We have now experienced four consecutive years of robust GDP.

“We are not going back to the days where I was a busboy and we lived under tourism. Things have changed.”

“Let us not confuse a cleverly worded speech with factual substance.”

Mr Furbert said that the spending deficit was reviewed by the Auditor-General.

He added: “Are you going to tell us the Auditor-General, whom we have trusted for umpteen years, is wrong and the honourable member is right?”

He pointed out that the Sinking Fund was created to pay off the national debt.

Mr Furbert said: “There was nothing in that budget reply that we can put our hands together and applaud. Nothing.”

The minister told the House to “let the numbers speak for themselves”, adding: “The numbers speak volumes to what we’ve done.”

He added: “Every statistic we cite has been done so with humility and prudence. Everything we’ve achieved has been done by design and not by accident.

“The numbers have spoken, and they speak to the brighter future of Bermuda.”

Jarion Richardson, the Opposition leader, said that Dr De Couto had provided “ample evidence” to back up his claims of weak government performance.

In contrast, he said, the Government had provided “no evidence” to show how it had calculated the $187 million of revenue it expects to take in this year from the corporate income tax.

He said: “In so far as the working papers that the Government is using to say that $187 million will be coming in, this honourable House has not had the benefit of such materials and research and is in fact entirely reliant on the Cabinet to state a number and for us to say ‘yes’.

“Because we’ve seen nothing that allows us to interrogate, scrutinise, evaluate, assess and give feedback on the accuracy of that number.”

He also insisted that the OBA applauded the growth in the international business sector, but that the boom was “warping the total picture of what is happening in our economy”.

Mr Richardson acknowledged that other sectors of the economy were growing but still lagged behind pre-pandemic figures.

He said: “We’re moving at a glacial pace.“

He pointed out that many Bermudians were leaving the island, adding: “This recovery is not being felt by Bermudians.

“We’re getting many complaints on the doorsteps and this Budget is part of that problem. It is a Budget that is built on an illusion and a hope. Illusions are no basis for progress.”

Ben Smith, the OBA deputy leader, also expressed the need for immediate action to grow the economy.

He warned that international business was under increasing pressure to put more into the island — either through increased taxes or through philanthropic support — but was getting an ever-shrinking return.

He said: “At some point the golden goose wants to know ‘what am I receiving’ — because they also drive on our roads and long waits at the hospital and issues with education.

“This [corporate income tax] is going to be layered on top of the demand that already exists. The same way they can pay that tax in another jurisdiction, they can also move to another jurisdiction.”

Referring to supposed growth in other sectors, Mr Smith said: “One crane is not a construction boom. How many buildings that are being torn down in Hamilton are being replaced by parking lots? Because if everything was booming, they’d be replaced by offices and apartment blocks.”

Mr Smith said that immigration was a major issue because the population needed to increase for the economy to expand.

He said that while it had always been typical for many young Bermudians to live and work overseas for a period of time after college, “the problem we have is that their parents are following them, their grandparents are following them”.

“We have to grow the pie rather than cutting it into smaller pieces. The only pie is the one that the Minister of Labour sees — it’s pie in the sky.”

Mr Smith applauded the Government for welfare initiatives but added: “But guess what? More and more people are falling into that safety net. The middle class is falling into that net.”

Zane DeSilva, the Deputy Premier, closed out the debate by accusing the OBA of painting a false picture of the economy.

“You would have thought that Bermuda was going down the drain,” he said.

Mr DeSilva pointed to multimillion-dollar investments in the island by corporations such as Google and Gencom “because Bermuda is such a great place to invest in”.

He also stressed that local businesses were doing well — “the Washington Mall said they have never had their offices so full since they opened”.

Claiming that the economy had shown “a resilience and growth“, Mr DeSilva pointed to increased spending on capital projects, affordable housing and scholarships — all achieved with a budget surplus.

He said: “The people of this country decided to vote us in for yet another term and this Budget is a reflection of the care and love that we have for our people.”