Jason Hayward insisted he was ready to lead both the Progressive Labour Party and the country — a view he said had been reinforced by party colleagues and members in recent months.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette at the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce’s 2026 Budget Breakfast and Economic Forum at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club yesterday, Mr Hayward said he would come to the role with more experience now than David Burt did when he became Premier in 2017.

Mr Hayward announced his candidacy for the PLP leadership on Sunday during the party’s Founders Day celebration at CedarBridge Academy, saying he had the full support of Deputy Premier Zane DeSilva.

Mr Hayward told the Gazette: “Over the last few months, we would have been having internal conversations and I was able to speak to a number of my colleagues — both political colleagues and members within the party — as it pertains to leadership.

“Many have encouraged me to run for leadership and have given me the honest feedback on the way they feel about the work that I do, and their confidence in me as a leader.

“Putting all of that into perspective, that was the foundation of my choice to put myself forward for leadership.

“I am ready to lead, most definitely.

“If you look at where the Premier began his journey nine years ago, I have more experience and am better positioned today than the Premier was nine years ago to lead this country, so I am confident in my ability to lead.”

Asked which colleagues have helped to mentor him in his political career, Mr Hayward said: “The Premier has been an excellent mentor, he has been an excellent person to shadow and to watch. He has drive and motivation. I have been very close to him.

“He has also had a lot of confidence in me as it pertains to my portfolio. I began as the Minister of Labour then expanded to Economy and Labour. Through my work, he has continued to reassure me of the value that I bring to the team.”

Mr Hayward said that addressing Bermuda’s high cost of living was “the No 1 priority”.

He added: “We need to ensure that we have quality education, we need healthcare that is affordable and accessible and we need to ensure that we have affordable and accessible housing as we continue to grow the economy and transform it from what it is now to the economy of the future.

“We need to do this collectively as a team; we will focus on turning whatever ambition we have into effective execution.”

He said that as a parent of a child in public education in Bermuda, improving the system was “always” important to him.

Mr Hayward acknowledged the island’s need to increase its working population to meet labour demands.

During the question time after his presentation, host Marico Thomas, the chamber president and an entrepreneur, asked Mr Hayward about his plans for immigration and boosting the island’s labour pool.

Mr Hayward, who previously stated that Bermuda needed to bring in 8,400 more workers, said that now, with Bermudians mostly employed, attention could be turned to getting foreign labour to the island.

He said that after the Covid pandemic, some job categories were closed or restricted in order to get Bermudians back to work.

“We have been able to bring the unemployment rate down to 1.4 per cent, which is statistically full employment.

“We have been able to bring the youth unemployment down from over 33 per cent to now under 4 per cent.

“That is a policy measure that worked on behalf of Bermudians.

“Now we are at full employment. There are other considerations that need to be made.

“I am working with industry to see where there are labour shortages. Where there are labour shortages, we will begin to open up those categories.

“It was important that we created those restrictions to preserve employment for Bermudians in a time of economic uncertainty.”