BREAKING NEWS…Manifesto promises more money in residents’ pockets

THE ST KITTS-NEVIS LABOUR PARTY (SKNLP) just launched its 27-page elections manifesto highlighting a raft of economic measures promising more moneys in workers pockets.

The SKNLP strategy also assured slashes in the value added tax (VAT) regime; financial assistance for electricity to all households; government actions to bolster the housing sector, and strategies to spur growth among indigenous financial institutions.

Under the theme ‘A New Day, A Better Way. Better With Labour’ the document is built on seven key pillars:

Education and scholarships;
Healthcare;
Housing and Social Protection;
Education and Scholarships;
Government;
Sports and Entertainment and
Environment and Food Security.

The SKNLP manifesto assured it will stimulate the building sector by offering all its citizens: VAT free purchases on all materials and furnishings; duty-free on all materials and furnishings and zero down payment for mortgages offered by indigenous financial institutions.

It also guaranteed reductions on the VAT rate. This the document predicted will see VAT tumbling from 17 percent to 13 percent.

The SKNLP administration will also “extend the full discounted VAT 2-day package not just at Christmas but to three times a year – Easter, Summer and Christmas,” the colourful 27-page manifesto promised.

It also promised to implement a $1,000 credit for electricity consumption by all households and for purchases of vehicle, “VAT will be exempt on the first EC$50,000,” with the standard 13 per cent charged thereafter.

Crafters of the five-year economic, social, political and cultural blueprint catered for the lingering and long-term effects of the ongoing global pandemic which has killed 6.3 million persons globally.

In this Caribbean island, so far 46 persons died from the ailment.

“The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party recognises that COVID-19 has forever changed our national outlook and we must forge a new path to concertedly adapt in order to build resilience and provide better opportunities for a brighter future.”

As the government, the Labour Party promises to “introduce a COVID-19 Reset Package that will ensure that the rights of workers are protected and that the unemployed and students are provided with the assistance to allow them to survive and thrive.”

In the first 6 months in office, the new government promises to provide gratuitous payment to all workers who were dismissed for not taking a COVID-19 vaccine; raise the national minimum wage to EC$500 weekly and to introduce an Industrial Court and enhance Workplace Health and Safety protections, the manifesto outlined.

It also promises to extend for another 6 months the Covid-Relief Income Support in the amount of EC$1,500 per month for unemployed persons and to replace the income support mechanism by a permanent Unemployment Insurance Facility “in the amount EC$750 dollars.”