This budget may have been the last chance for the GSLP to assert itself as an actual socialist party. Unfortunately, abandonment of any kind of socialist principles was a theme in this year’s budget. Instead, we see the bare minimum increases for working class Gibraltarians (or even less, in the case of pensioners), and tax cuts for wealthy parents to send their children to private schools. This is to say nothing of Gibraltar’s tax regime which already benefits the wealthy over the working class, struggling to keep up with stealth taxes and a skyrocketing cost of living.

Transparency too, is something that this budget has no time for. With nearly a billion pounds going through government-owned companies, Gibraltarians are left to take the government’s word that their spending is all above board. One commenter on last week’s Viewpoint referred to this transparency debate as ‘boring the electorate’, and it’s no surprise. With no accountability, how can this debate be anything other than a he-said, he-said between government and a toothless opposition.

Just look at the conversation around the Gibraltar Savings Bank, plenty of nations fund capital projects through citizens’ savings. The difference is that those investments are meticulously planned out to ensure money is spent responsibly. In Gibraltar, we are still trying to work out whether the government is using savers’ money to fund a football stadium, without so much as an estimate on cost or expected returns.

As Marlene highlighted in her budget speech, this is not solely on the government. The constant demonisation of taxation and borrowing by the GSD has created an atmosphere where the government feels that obfuscation is their only answer. Gibraltar needs an honest conversation about taxation: How we fund our services and reduce the disparity between the haves and the have-nots.

While public sector workers have been offered a one-time bonus, it is insufficient to account for workers’ salary depreciation after four years with no pay rise.

The picture is even worse for Gibraltar’s private sector workers. We have to ask ourselves serious questions about why a jurisdiction as supposedly thriving as Gibraltar, cannot create a fair deal for the workers who keep it going. Our economy is clearly not working for thousands of Gibraltarians, struggling to make ends meet. The minimum wage increase is a welcome change but still lags far behind even the UK. Gibraltar needs to take a long, hard look about what the ‘economic growth’ touted by the government is doing for workers. It would be something if our public services and benefits were improving but those too are suffering from cuts and lack of planning. Gibraltar desperately needs to invest back into our public services and move towards a model that creates high quality, well paying jobs.

Which leads us to the bigger picture we want to comment on: there is absolutely nothing in this budget to shift Gibraltar from the unsustainable, extractive economy it has become. Everyone can see the state of disrepair Gibraltar finds itself in and it’s embarrassing to hear visitors and locals alike speak about Gibraltar in terms of grime, smell, eyesores and broken infrastructure. This government has sold off our natural resources and our quality of life, and what do working class Gibraltarians have to show for it?

This grime combined with a lack of attention to our tourist product is putting a pillar of our economy at serious risk. Government has admitted that tourist numbers are still down from before the pandemic (unlike many other tourist hubs). But more worrying is absolutely no change or strategy around developing a tourist product for multi-day stays. Gibraltar cannot subsist forever on cruise ships and day-trippers. Government needs a strategy and to work with the private sector to push for a modern tourist product that creates amazing experiences and great jobs for locals.

Many pensioners have also been left in the cold by this budget which sees a real-terms decrease in occupational pensions and does not fill the gaps in the system. This budget won’t help the men who cannot receive community care or women who have been divorced or widowed and left with a meagre pension that isn’t even getting them to the end of the month.

Together Gibraltar demands a fairer deal. One which recognises growing divides in our community and puts working class Gibraltarians front-and-centre.

A fairer deal on tax where the wealthy, who get so much from Gibraltar, pay back their fair share. A deal where we support local businesses and people who live in Gibraltar, not just those who ‘invest’ in it. A deal where we build skills and green infrastructure not luxury houses. If you believe in this deal, there’s still a party for you.