Statement by Alexa N. H. Lightbourne, PLP MP & Minister of Home Affairs:

On Sunday, 31 May, the Ministry of Home Affairs closed its consultation on CARICOM. Bermuda, you shared your views, filled Centennial Hall, St James Church Hall, and Penno’s Wharf. Many participated in the survey at togetherforcaricom.gov.bm. You asked about the cost, the timing, and whether membership means open borders. Every concern raised is on the record, and they will be answered as part of the White Paper. It will also carry the consultation summaries, the United Kingdom’s feedback, and the outcomes of meetings held with the CARICOM Secretariat.

Before that White Paper is written, I want to speak plainly. Bermudian to Bermudian.

For most of us, CARICOM is not the issue keeping us awake at night. The cost of living, the price of groceries, healthcare expenses and finding affordable housing are where many are focused.

That reality is what brings us to the conversation about CARICOM.

Not because CARICOM is a solution to every problem, but because responsible leadership requires us to examine every opportunity, every partnership and every tool that might help us build a stronger future for Bermudians.

Let me share a picture I have carried since this consultation began. One afternoon I sat on a beach in St George’s and watched a ferry cross the harbour just as a cruise ship came up the channel. But beside that ship, she looked like what she is: a boat made for a world that ends at the reef line. She never contemplates her own size. She has no reason to, until something larger crosses her bow. Bermuda has sailed her own waters for so long that we have started mistaking the reef line for the horizon. All around us, the region moves at scale: on trade, on climate, on food, on security. This consultation was the crossing.

So, what must we do?

We are standing at a fork in the road, and we can take one of two paths.

One path says Bermuda should continue relying solely on the tools and relationships we have today.

The other says we should carefully examine whether stronger regional partnerships could create new opportunities, strengthen our resilience and better protect Bermudian interests.

That does not mean abandoning who we are.

It means asking whether there is more we can do to strengthen Bermuda’s future.

For most Bermudians, the most important question is simple:

“What does this mean for me and my family?”

That is exactly the right question.

If Bermuda can create stronger partnerships that help ensure seniors receive the care they deserve, that matters.

If a Bermudian student gains access to new educational, training or professional opportunities, that matters.

If a Bermudian entrepreneur gains access to new markets and new customers, that matters.

If stronger regional cooperation helps protect food supplies during global disruptions or improves disaster preparedness during hurricane season, that matters.

They are not guarantees, but they are possibilities that deserve serious consideration.

Let me be clear. Full membership does not mean open borders.

Bermuda keeps control of its borders and its immigration system.

Bermuda decides what is in its own best interest.

Bermuda’s interests will remain Bermuda’s responsibility.

Alongside real benefits and opportunities, this conversation is also about relationships that have shaped Bermuda for generations.

Long before anyone debated CARICOM membership, Bermuda’s story was already connected to the Caribbean.

Men and women from across the region helped build communities, churches, businesses and families that became part of the Bermudian story.

Their influence can still be seen throughout our culture, traditions, food, music and community life today.

When Bermuda explores partnerships with the Caribbean, we are building on relationships that already exist.

And consider the precedent. Bermuda has joined international bodies before. Our regulator helped found the International Association of Insurance Supervisors in 1994, the standard our reinsurance market still runs on. It holds full membership of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions. We have been an associate member of CARICOM since 2003, and rejoined the Caribbean Tourism Organization in 2023. The institutions that built our economy were never put to a referendum, and they did not need to be.

And understand what full membership actually is. It is a policy anchor. It is Bermuda declaring, as a country, who our partners are and who our friends will be. Bermuda already runs deep ties across the region. The question is whether stronger partnerships mean new markets for our businesses, training for our students, healthcare collaboration to keep the professionals we need, and shared disaster preparedness for the storms we all face. We are confirming in policy what our history already wrote: our partners are our family. And our actions should intentionally follow.

Because at its heart, this discussion is not really about CARICOM.

This is a discussion about Bermuda’s future. It asks whether we are prepared to explore every opportunity that could help us build a stronger future for Bermudians.

Any decision we make should be judged against a simple standard:

Does it benefit Bermudians?

Does it strengthen Bermuda? Does it protect our ability to determine our own future?

If the answer to those questions is yes, then we have a responsibility to consider it.

Bermudians have never been afraid to examine new ideas when they believe those ideas can strengthen our country. That is why, sixty-three years ago, Bermudians who believed this island belongs to all of us founded a party and put their purpose in its name. Progressive. Labour. Progress is in our name because progress is the assignment.

Beyond this place of doubt and delay, the future is ours to author. We are the masters of our fate. We are the captains of our soul.

• Alexa Lightbourne is the Minister of Home Affairs and the Member of Parliament for Devonshire North West (Constituency 14)

Bermudians deserve clear answers and the right to have their voices heard via referendum before any final decision is taken on full CARICOM membership by the PLP Government.

Let me be clear. This is not about rejecting the Caribbean. It is well known that many Bermudian families, including my own, share cultural, sporting, historical, and community ties across the region.

These ties matter, and they should be respected, nurtured, taught about in our schools, and strengthened.

Cultural connection is not the same as full membership of CARICOM.

The question before Bermuda is practical.

What does it cost? How will our Government navigate the current geo-political climate within the Caribbean region? What new benefits would Bermudians receive that we do not already have as an Associate Member?

Do Bermudians support full membership of CARICOM in 2026?

To date, the Government has been unclear, while we are waiting for definitive answers.

The One Bermuda Alliance believes Bermuda’s current Associate Membership is the most suitable for us.

It allows Bermuda to maintain regional relationships while protecting our unique economic, constitutional, immigration, and labour realities.

The Government touting a stronger voice for Bermuda as a reason for becoming full members of CARICOM does not match our current constitutional reality.

Bermuda would face many restrictions as a full CARICOM member because we are still an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. As such, it constitutionally has the authority over our foreign affairs, defense, and internal security. We would be forced to abstain on many votes within CARICOM but still pay for full membership.

Unless the Progressive Labour Party intends to change that, and if this is indeed the case, Premier Burt should be honest with the people of Bermuda.

As it stands right now, we would just be increasing our expenditure for another level of limited participation.

These facts cannot be brushed aside with slogans.

The Government must explain the cost. The Minister has already backpedaled on the estimate printed in the Government’s own Green Paper.

Bermudians are already facing pressure from housing, healthcare, groceries, transport, education, and the wider cost of living. If the Government wants Bermuda to take on new obligations, it must show the public what we will receive in return in clear, measurable terms.

This is not fear mongering. It is responsible scrutiny, as it affects the lives of everyday Bermudians.

It is not anti-Caribbean to ensure Bermudians are getting a good deal. It is not anti-Caribbean to ask for a cost-benefit analysis. It is not anti-Caribbean to ask whether Bermuda’s immigration, labour, financial services, and constitutional positions may change if we take this decision.

Respecting the Caribbean and demanding answers from our own Government are not contradictions.

The OBA is simply asking for clarity before commitment and the right for Bermudians to make this critical choice for themselves.

We believe that since the final decision lies with CARICOM and the United Kingdom, that our Government should have an iron clad mandate from the people to ask for this process to begin.

Full Membership of CARICOM was not a policy point in the Progressive Labour Party’s last platform, and it failed to capture the popular vote in the last election.

A decision of this size should not be taken by Cabinet alone. It should not be pushed forward through political messaging. It should be placed before the people in a referendum.

We have also seen members of the public begin their own online petition calling for a referendum on Bermuda’s proposed full membership in CARICOM. That petition reflects a genuine public concern that deserves to be respected.

Until Bermudians are given clear answers, and until the public can decide directly, the OBA cannot support Bermuda moving from Associate Membership to full CARICOM membership.

Before full membership, Bermudians deserve full answers.