PLP Leader David Burt has addressed party members regarding the ongoing court case over membership rules, and says that up until now the PLP has settled its differences internally
An update from PLP Leader David Burt to party members:
September 24, 2026
To the Members of the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party
An update on the court proceedings
PLP Family,
I want to update you directly on today’s Court hearing and on how we got here. Because the matter is before the Court, there are things I cannot say. What I can say is set out below.
On 24 August, the Central Committee, the body our Constitution charges with governing the Party between conferences, passed two resolutions concerning new membership applications. Their purpose was simple: to make sure that the people who decide the Party’s future are people who have joined it in accordance with its Constitution. Confirming that an application is genuine, complete and paid for is the ordinary work of any membership organisation. It is what the Membership Process approved by the Central Committee in July requires, and it is what the Party has been doing, openly, since the summer.
On 4 September, MP Curtis Dickinson and four other plaintiffs went to the Supreme Court and, without notice to the Party, obtained an injunction against the Party’s Chairperson and Secretary General in respect of those resolutions. The Court will hear the case on 1 and 2 October and will decide whether the Central Committee had the power to do what it did. The Party will make its case there, and it will respect the Court’s decision.
Since the original injunction, the Party has made its best efforts to do what the Court has asked of it. It has produced its records, sworn its affidavits, and worked long hours to comply with every direction the Court has given. The plaintiffs, for their part, have returned to Court twice more, on 17 September and again today, each time seeking further orders.
Today’s hearing concerned an allegation that members have been removed from the Party’s records. The Party’s position is clear: no member has been struck off the membership roll in the preparation of these lists. We reject the allegation that differences between the lists show that members have been removed in breach of the Court’s order. The Party’s lawyers will address these allegations and explain the relevant records in Court. The Court has given further directions, which the Party and its lawyers are reviewing. The Party will continue to respect the Court’s process, as it has throughout.
These questions about the records could have been clarified through direct discussion. We belong to the same Party and should be able to speak to one another, ask questions and check the facts before drawing conclusions and filing aggressive legal orders against our hard-working volunteers. There was a caucus meeting last night, and none of these concerns were raised by MP Dickinson, who was in attendance.
The latest application includes a request for a Penal Notice in the proceedings involving our Chair and our Secretary General. In court today, counsel for the plaintiff said he didn’t feel the penal notice was necessary, but it was included at the insistence of his client. Such a notice warns that disobeying a Court order may result in penalties, including imprisonment, fines or the seizure of their assets. I am deeply concerned about the pressure this places on two women who volunteer their time serving our Party. The application also asked that the Party be made to pay the plaintiffs’ legal costs on the highest basis the law allows.
I am also deeply disappointed that TNN appears to have been made aware of this latest challenge before the Party’s leadership. I understand that Mr Lindsay was seen walking with counsel for the plaintiffs into court. We should be raising concerns directly with one another and giving those responsible for the records an opportunity to explain them, rather than learning about court filings after members of the media have been made aware.
I have seen the hours being put into gathering documents, checking applications and preparing records. Our Chair, our Secretary General and those assisting them are doing this alongside their other responsibilities. It pains me to see colleagues carrying this burden, and I ask you to reach out and offer them your support.
Every member of this Party has ways to raise concerns within it. A member can go to their Branch. A member can bring a matter to the Central Committee. The Constitution provides grievance and appeal procedures, and the Party’s officers have said throughout that the door is open. For sixty-three years, the PLP has settled its differences, and it has had many, through those channels, in rooms full of its own members, by the votes of its own members.
The plaintiffs were free to bring their concerns to any of those bodies and to put their case to the members whose Party this is. They chose instead to go to the Supreme Court, without notice, and they have gone back twice since, and refused to meet without preconditions and threats from their lawyers. Every dollar the Party spends defending these proceedings is a dollar of members’ dues and donations that is not spent on our branches, our organising or the next election.
I have called for dialogue before, and I am making that call again. Nobody has to abandon their position to sit down and talk. We can address questions about the records, discuss our disagreements and seek an agreement through the Party’s own processes, with any settlement properly brought before the Court. The Party’s lawyers will continue to address the proceedings. We remain willing to come to the table so that our time and resources can be redirected towards the Party’s mission, rather than further Court proceedings over allegations of membership removals that the Party maintains are factually incorrect.
In the meantime, please do not be drawn into arguments about this case on social media or in the press. The Party will not litigate in public, and I ask you not to either. If you have a question, bring it to your Branch or to Party Headquarters, where it will be answered.
I know the toll this is taking collectively on all of us. I can only continue to pray that reason will prevail.
Regards,
Party Leader
