Dates Set For Throne Speech & Budget
The Cabinet Office announced that this year’s Legislature will convene on March 14, while Budget Day is set for May 2.
A Government spokesperson said, “The Cabinet Office advised today that the Legislature will convene on March 14, 2025 following its dissolution on January 8, 2025 for the purposes of holding the recent General Election.
“His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Andrew Murdoch will read the Speech from the Throne setting out the Government’s legislative and policy priorities.”
Premier David Burt said, “The Government is looking forward to getting back to work in the House of Assembly and the Senate, determined to continue building the fairer Bermuda we promised.”
A Government spokesperson also “confirmed that Budget Day is set for May 2, 2025. It should be noted that Section 96 of The Bermuda Constitution Order 1968 specifically contemplates a dissolution of the Legislature “less than three months before the commencement of any financial year” and sets out that any new budget estimates can be laid before the House of Assembly “as soon as practicable after the commencement of that year”.
The spokesperson said, “Accordingly, and in keeping with Section 97 of the Constitution, the House of Assembly will be invited to approve a resolution to extend the necessary fiscal provisions to ensure the continued operation of the Government and all public services until the 2025/26 Budget is approved.
“Led by the Ministry of Finance, technical officers have been preparing budgets as usual to ensure that now with the election complete, this important phase of the legislative calendar can proceed.”
Premier Burt said, “It is important that we take the necessary time to align our proposed expenditure with the need to deliver on our key Platform initiatives. Ministers will have the opportunity to work closely with technical officers in ensuring we craft a budget that addresses those key issues identified by the people as we met them on the doorstep.”
The spokesperson said, “The Cabinet Office noted that the Throne Speech will be read as part of the ceremony on the Cabinet Office Lawn following the meetings of the House of Assembly and Senate and the conduct of their business which will include the swearing-in of Members and the election of the respective leadership in both Houses.”
Hang on here. The financial year ends March 31st 2025. The 2025/2026 budget year begins April 1st.
The Government departments should have been working on their new budgets from October. What happened to all of that work? Has it been trashed and they are starting again? Burt, in his brilliant wisdom, called an election for right about the time that the 25/26 budget should have been delivered.
What trickery is going on here with a budget being read a month into the new financial year?
Look at the bright side, no one will have authorised the spending of any money by the Government of Bermuda for the month of April 2025!
Did you really expect the PLP to deliver the next budget in an efficient, transparent and timely manner?
Just watch, I’m sure they’ll find a way to use public funds won’t be included in that budget by the time it’s read in the HoP.
Gonna be a long 5 years!
Same government, same smoke and mirrors. Were they not prepared? There is no excuse for the delay. Perhaps if the Premeir / Finance Minister had not jumped on a plane the day after the election he could have spent some time concentrating on the countries business!
Probably pushing budget back as far as possible so that when questions get answered , they can delay until the approaching summer break then rest and playtime.
No doubt they will have magically balanced the budget while actually pulling from the sinking fund or some other egregious accounting. This from a government that got less than 50% of the vote and only 1/4 of the population actually wants.