Election 2025: Party Leaders Debate as it happened

That’s all folks

A historic night in Cayman’s election history. It will take a minute to digest and run through, but all three party leaders will feel like they landed key blows and presented their agendas as best they could in the quick-fire format. We will have a full story to come shortly and analysis and review on Compass TV and on our website tomorrow.

Gloves come off in closing speeches

The gloves come off for the final statements and both Ebanks and Scott go straight for the jugular with the PPM.

Both have been referring all night to the current independent group as a de facto PPM administration, given that three of the current Cabinet are now running with the Progressives.

We will have a full story to come but here’s a quick sampling of what was said.

Joey Hew says his PPM team is the only party ready to hit the ground running. He fires back at the critique he has faced from TCCP’s André Ebanks and CINP’s Dan Scott.

“After tonight’s debate, it’s quite obvious that they are one team, because both of them are on the same page, fighting against the PPM. They have no interest in debating each other, but simply the PPM,” Hew says.

“Even though we were not in power for the last four years, they’re still crediting us for everything negative, whilst one has never been in government, and the other was actually in the government for the last three-and-a-half years as a minister, and then on for another year as a deputy premier.”

Ebanks says the PPM combined with the trio of ministers it has partnered with from the current government is “bound to run the country into the ground”.

He suggests the initial independent coalition formed with the idea to take the country in a different direction, but was hamstrung by its divisions. He denies any side deal with Scott, but says the country is crying out for an alternative to the Progressives, whom he blames for “open immigration and unfettered and unbridled development”.

He adds, “The country is bursting to go into a new era that is free of side deals, free of  vanity projects, free of breaking the rules, of demoralising civil servants.”

Scott picks up the theme, continuing to refer to the current government as a “PPM-led government” – Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly is running with the Progressives – which he says has left the country with a “ticking time bomb” in the form of its poorly managed finances.

Saying the government granted four new Caymanian statuses every day over the last year, he says the Cayman Islands National Party will bring immigration reform.

“Caymanians are now facing lack of job opportunities, higher housing costs, congested roads and schools, overcrowded beaches and erosion of our country’s culture. The Progressives like to talk about experience. They are indeed experienced in failure as a party,” Scott says.

No appetite for further reform on same-sex relationships

The leaders seem largely OK with the equality of rights established through the Civil Partnership Act.

Time for another round of election reform?

Ebanks has the most interesting take on this one, suggesting the possible need for a national election and a bicameral house.

He says that could only happen after a national conversation and a referendum.

“You’re now dealing with ministers who are part of a billion-dollar budget,” he says, highlighting concerns that people elected must be equipped to spend that wisely on behalf of the people.

No support for immediate abortion reform

Scott says he doesn’t support abortion reform as proposed by the Law Reform Commission. He says “a life is critically important to us and we need to be mindful how we move forward”.

Hew and Ebanks endorse a wider national discussion, citing Cayman’s Christian heritage as fundamental to the discussion. Ebanks points out the likely need for a discussion on sensitive points, such as what happens in the case of rape, where abortion is still illegal in Cayman.

‘Segregated schools’ a ‘sociological disaster’, says Ebanks

On education, Hew highlights the need for TVET programmes to provide real licences. He suggests introducing school governing bodies with business professionals and parents more involved in the organising of their schools.

Ebanks highlights Cayman’s divided school system with expats largely in private schools.

“What we are witnessing is a sociological disaster that we are still dealing with segregation,” he says, suggesting something like the ECAP programme, which provides supported places in private sector childcare centres, could be extended to primary schools and extended to children as young as one.

Scott says reform is needed, including earlier access to technical and vocational education.

“60% of our graduating children are below the required level. 75% of our schools in the public system are below the required level. It’s not for a lack of funding, it is a lack of execution,” Scott says.

Scott: ‘Major immigration reform needed’

The questions are coming thick and fast.

Scott highlights concerns about “unfettered immigration”, pointing to statistics showing 74% of new jobs have gone to non-Caymanians.

He says too many young Caymanians are returning home with master’s degrees unable to get jobs.

“From our standpoint, we need major immigration reform. The pathway to citizenship is far too easy,” Scott says.

He cites how the points system gives the same points to a bus driver and a brain surgeon.

He’s riled Hew again by referring to the independent coalition as the “PPM-led government”.

Ebanks suggests the recently published government ‘white paper‘ was pure electioneering, and says his former colleagues took their eye off the ball because of their “strange obsession” with the National Conservation Act.

Do we need a long-term vision?

The candidates are asked about a long-term plan for the country with public input.

Hew cites the urgent need for a development plan and questions why that has not been done as yet.

“We talk about sustainability, beach erosion, weather patterns, all of these things, even housing, falls under zoning. So all of that is under PlanCayman,” Hew says.

More broadly, he highlights his work on the post-COVID plan he called Cayman 2.0. He says the party is now on to Cayman 4.0.

Scott says a national development plan would be dealt with immediately by his government, but insists it must be a plan that puts Caymanians first and doesn’t favour foreign developers.

Ebanks cites the need for a broad plan on various areas, including human capital, workforce development, older persons and pensions, and highlights the Futures Commission in Wales as an example of how it could be done.

Beach erosion is hurting Cayman but who should pay?

The candidates tackle tourism, including the erosion of Seven Mile Beach.

Scott says replenishment should happen and government should work with property owners to get it done. But he says the private sector, not government, should pay.

Hew highlights raising the room tax as a way to fund restoration of the beach.

“We have to deal with beach erosion; that is the biggest challenge facing the tourism product at the moment,” he adds.

More Caymanians need to be employed in tourism on better wages, says Scott, citing how his running mate Gary Rutty achieved 90% Caymanian workforce at the Comfort Suites hotel by paying decent wages.

“It is absolutely shocking today that you go into most of our hotels, restaurants and otherwise, and it’s difficult to spot the Caymanian,” Scott says.

Broad support for financial services

Asked about financial services, Ebanks highlights his success as minister getting Cayman off grey lists and enhancing legislation.

He says re-insurance, family office and tech are the growth sectors for the industry that he helped invigorate.

Scott cites his 40 years in the financial services industry.

He says Cayman has done an outstanding job at facing challenges, but says more must be done to tell the “good news” story of Cayman.

The leaders are all singing from the same hymn sheet here, talking about continuing to ensure Cayman is compliant and competitive.

Hew says PPM would bring back plans for a network of offices in Washington and elsewhere. He also highlights AI as a growth area to invest in.

PPM taken to task over partnership with government

One early trend appears to be some tag-teaming between Scott and Ebanks to point out the lack of distance between the Progressives and the current government.

Scott says, “Three of the current ministers of the government are all Progressive, and indeed, the current leader, the premier, is also Progressive.” 

He refers to them as “Progressives in hiding”.

Scott: Progressives don’t deserve a do-over on ReGen

The leaders are asked about infrastructure and Scott highlights the East-West Arterial as a priority before lambasting the government on finances, which he says are in a “scary place” right now.

He says a well-thought-out, multi-year plan is needed, but better management of finances is necessary to be able to budget for it.

Hew cites the landfill, public transport and the Sunrise Adult Education Centre as infrastructure priorities.

Ebanks says Cayman must scale down on vanity projects, increase accountability and reorganise the budget.

Both Ebanks and Scott blame the PPM for the state of the country’s finances. Hew argues the party has not been in government for four years, but both men are seeking to highlight that the PPM has taken three of the current Cabinet members into its party ahead of the election.

“They are all wrapped into the same party,” Ebanks says.

Scott blasts Hew over the landfill, saying they had a wonderful opportunity to deal with it but made a “really bad deal”.

“We are sitting here today having spent $32 million for nothing,” he adds, saying the Progressives don’t deserve another “do-over”.

Ebanks talks about housing solutions

Ebanks is asked about housing and talks about increasing the duty waiver for first-time Caymanian buyers and increasing government-assisted mortgage support.

He also mentions high-quality and hurricane-rated container homes as a possible solution for low-cost housing.

Scott takes aim at concessions for foreign developers, saying too many incentives have been given for homes that are not for Caymanians.

Hew says minimum wage must go up

Hew reels off some concerning stats about inflation and says, “We have to increase the minimum wage.”

He “can’t believe it has taken this long” to get it done, he says, citing how some families are spending more than they are making, given escalating costs across so many areas. He says some pensioners are leaving the country because of the cost of living.

A follow up from Ebanks suggests Cayman needs to stabilise its finances before it can achieve any of that, pointing out that Cayman is in a deficit and blaming the “big spenders” that are now in Hew’s party. He says TCCP will look at reforming stamp duty and creating tiered national healthcare options.

Scott fires back at Hew that the PPM has had time to achieve minimum wage reform and many other things they are now promising.

“They don’t have the ability to do it. They’ve failed every time they’ve tried and they will fail again,” Scott says.

Hew defends the PPM record and points out that Ebanks was deputy premier until a few months ago.

Cost of living and immigration among key issues

Chamber president Omari Corbin gives us a brief introduction, highlighting cost-of-living, education, immigration and infrastructure as some of the key issues the leaders will be quizzed on tonight.

Wil Pineau introduces the leaders and Tammi Sulliman runs through the format. There’s going to be questions for each leader, with the others having a chance to respond and rebut, similar in style to the US presidential debates.

It’s relatively rare in recent Cayman history to have three clear leaders vying for the premiership. Of course, there is always a small chance that the next premier could come from someone outside of this group if independents dominate the election. But tonight promises to be a chance to see up close the real differences between these three men and their respective parties.

Three party leaders ready to go live

After an undercard of 19 constituency debates, tonight is the main event. Three party leaders will face off in a rare event in the Cayman Islands – a live, televised leadership debate.

In the red corner is Joey Hew, the new Progressives leader, who is seeking to take the party back to power after four years in the cold.

In the purple corner is Dan Scott, the former EY partner seeking to shake up the political scene with his 12-strong Cayman Islands National Party.

And in the teal corner is André Ebanks, the first leader of The Caymanian Community Party. Chamber of Commerce CEO Wil Pineau and councillor Tammi Sulliman will be posing the questions.

We are expecting things to get started around 7pm.