Premier McKeeva Bush has told the British government that Cayman would never again “hold out the begging bowl” because of overspending, instead promising to rely on private-sector investment for infrastructure projects.

Signing the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility this week in London, Mr Bush blamed “the last government of the Cayman islands” for starting “the debt spiral” that had precipitated creation of the Framework, formally restricting both borrowing and spending.

We have discussed on many occasions how the last Cayman Islands Government committed the country to future massive borrowing to pay for grant capital projects for which they had no money,” he told Minister for Overseas Territories Henry Bellingham and other top officials.

“They went ahead and mishandled the contracts for projects for schools, an admin block and roads costing over hundreds of million of dollars knowing full well that a future generation would have to pay for them. In one year they left an $81 million fiscal deficit.

“My government did not cause the problem,” he said, “but depend on it, my government will solve it,” saying he would “abolish the deficit for the future”.

Mr Bush did not limit criticism to his People’s Progressive Movement predecessors, but also assailed his UK government hosts, pointing out its fiscal failures, and rejecting previous attacks on Cayman’s financial-services industry, saying they were also vital to Britain

“We can all see what is happening in Europe when governments spend more than their people earn,” he told the Wednesday meeting, hinting that Cayman officials would not accept earlier UK demands for taxation.

“The Cayman Islands will now live within its means, even though we agree that there will be tough choices to make,” he told Mr Bellingham.

“When we come knocking on your door in future, Minister, it will be to point out that our financial services are vital to investment in the UK economy,” and that “it will be to point out that low-tax economies like ours, are the key to growth and prosperity.”

Without naming the proposed Dart Realty-government $1.2 billion ForCayman Investment Alliance, the nascent Enterpise City or infrastructure giant China Harbour Engineering Company, Mr Bush told the group that financing was unlikely any longer to come from government.

“But now with your support for divestment and encouragement of prudent involvement of the private sector to fund infrastructure projects, coupled with my abhorrence of borrowing, we can move forward with these projects in an open, transparent and competitive way.”

The Cayman Islands, he said “can go forward to achieve a fiscal surplus and restore our reputation for sound financial management once again. Our mutual agreement to transitional arrangements is most helpful to Cayman.”