Evidence and analysis are publicly available to address concerns about full Caricom membership, the home affairs minister said after a former deputy premier aired doubts about the benefits of deeper integration.

Alexa Lightbourne responded to points made by Bob Richards, who claimed that Bermuda’s economy and those of other member states were “as different as chalk and cheese”.

She added that a Green Paper on the topic — released this month for feedback — as well as the Government’s Together for Caricom website addressed concerns raised by the former finance minister “with supporting evidence, data and analysis”.

Ms Lightbourne said: “We encourage Mr Richards, and all Bermudians, to review those materials and to submit feedback through the consultation’s official channels.

“We welcome it, provided it proceeds on the basis of facts.”

She noted: “Mr Richards opinion is acknowledged, however, several of his claims are directly contradicted by the factual record.”

In an opinion article submitted to The Royal Gazette, Mr Richards claimed that there were geopolitical risks for Bermuda being associated with Caricom.

He added: “It seems that the Caribbean isn’t on the USA’s radar unless it is something negative.”

Ms Lightbourne said: “On the suggestion that Caricom full membership poses a geopolitical risk to Bermuda’s relationship with the United States — the Bahamas has been a full Caricom member since 1983.

“It does not participate in the Caricom single market and economy. The United States maintains a $4.5 billion trade surplus with the Bahamas.

“In 43 years of full membership, the Bahamas has suffered no geopolitical penalty and its relationship with Washington has never been stronger.

“If full membership carried the risk Mr Richards describes, we would have seen the evidence by now. We have not.”

Mr Richards, who operated under the United Bermuda Party and One Bermuda Alliance, cited the Green Paper’s reference to food security and acquiring agriproducts from Caricom members.

He said that the island’s position as an associate member of Caricom “does not prevent such trade from happening”.

Mr Richards added: “Our current status with Caricom does not prevent direct importation from the Caribbean. Unfavourable economics do.”

Ms Lightbourne responded: “Access to a market is not the same as a seat at the table where the rules governing that market are written.

“Caricom is building regional food security frameworks, supply chain resilience programmes and collective trade negotiating positions. Associate members observe. Full members shape.

“The question is not whether Bermuda can buy produce from the Caribbean today, it’s whether Bermuda should have a voice in the institutional architecture that will determine supply chain reliability for the next generation.”

Mr Richards wrote: “The bottom line here is, financially, Bermuda has nothing in common with the member states of Caricom.

“That’s not to say we don’t have financial issues; indeed, we do. But our economic/financial issues and those of Caricom member states are as different as chalk and cheese.”

He added: “In terms of macroeconomics, Bermuda and Caricom represent a square peg in a round hole.

“Caricom was not created for an economy like ours, therefore it does not fit.”

Ms Lightbourne said: “Caricom has never required economic homogeneity.

“The Bahamas — a tourism and financial services economy — sits alongside Trinidad's petrochemical sector, Guyana's oil economy and Jamaica's diaspora economy.

“Bermuda’s strengths in financial services regulation and risk management are precisely what the region needs.

“The region’s collective leverage on climate resilience, trade negotiation and disaster preparedness is what we need.

“It is worth noting that Bermuda already sits alongside every Caricom member state as a full member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, which we have chaired.

“No one has ever suggested that this Caribbean regional membership poses a geopolitical risk.”

Bermuda has been an associate member of the Caribbean Community since 2003.

The Government announced in its 2023 Throne Speech its intention to begin a consultation process that would lead to full membership.

During the Motion to Adjourn in the House of Assembly today, Ms Lightbourne pointed out that many Bermudians, including national heroes such as Mary Prince and Dame Lois Browne-Evans, had links to the Caribbean.

She added that the idea of Bermuda being separate from the rest of the Caribbean was a “fallacy”.

Ms Lightbourne said: “How could we be so different when we have the same history?”

She added: “Would it not behove us to learn what our Caribbean brothers and sisters have done successfully?

“Would it not help to teach them what we have done successfully so that they can learn from us?

“The question must be asked, who does it serve to keep us divided?

“Who does it serve for us to not have a means and a mechanism and a way to connect through our heritage?”

Christopher Famous, a Progressive Labour Party MP, backed Ms Lightbourne’s comments in the House and claimed there was a “fear factor” associated with the Caribbean.

He added that fears of Caribbean association carried an element of racism.

Mr Famous explained: “When someone of English heritage goes to England to go look for their family, no one questions it.

“When someone of Portuguese heritage or Azorean heritage goes to Portugal or the Azores, no one ever questions why they’re doing that.

“Anything that’s perceived as being ‘northern/White’ is all right. Anything in the south is wrong.”

He added: “When do we as Bermudian people understand we didn’t just fall from the sky?

“We didn’t come from America. We didn’t come from England. Some came from the Azores, yes.

“We, for the most part, came from the Caribbean — and we’re constantly being told in high intellectual manners ‘don’t have anything to do with them’.”

• UPDATE: this article has been updated with comments made in the House of Assembly