Mia Mottley says Barbados is on course and asks for permission to continue national transformation 

Barbados: Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has declared that Barbados is firmly on course in its national transformation and has asked the people for permission to continue the work as she addressed supporters at the Errol Barrow Day Family Lime and Rally at Checker Hall in St Lucy on January 21, 2026.

While speaking on the birthday of National Hero Errol Walton Barrow, PM Mottley said the occasion was both symbolic and deliberate as it marked the start of the Barbados Labour Party campaign from the birthplace of the Father of Independence. She said the rally was about respect for history while also focusing on the future of the country.

She further reminded Barbadians of the condition of the country when the BLP took office in 2018 and added that the country at that time had lost hope faced severe financial strain and was struggling with broken systems and empty pockets.

PM Mottley stressed that the government was forced to focus first on stabilising the country before rebuilding and restoring opportunity.

She told the crowd that Barbados is now in active development mode. “This is a country at work,” she said, adding that anyone flying over the island would believe “this whole island is almost a construction site. Roads being done water mains being dug up houses being built hotels being built.” 

At the same time Mottley said the mission is not yet complete. “We are still on course to getting there but we are not quite there yet,” she said. She told supporters the BLP was “here for the first time to report for duty and to ask you for the most sacred of things your permission to continue the job.”

The Barbadian leader told supporters that the country has since moved forward through deliberate action rather than promises. She pointed to the elimination of sewage running in the streets, wage increases for public servants after nearly a decade of stagnation and a rise in the minimum wage from 6 dollars 50 cents to 10 dollars 50 cents per hour. She said pensioners were protected taxes were reduced and land tax was either lowered or eliminated for many households.

Mottley said these actions were not empty talk. “These are not promises. Promises are comfort to a fool. These are real things achieved,” she said.

According to her, Barbados today is a country at work with major investment visible across the island. She highlighted road works, water mains, housing developments, hotels and public infrastructure as signs of steady national rebuilding. She acknowledged the inconvenience caused by construction but said progress cannot happen without disruption.

She said the government also acted to protect families by expanding maternity leave, introducing paternity leave and removing taxes on key food items baby supplies and household essentials to ease the cost of living. She noted investments in healthcare including a new accident and emergency facility as well as public transport with the purchase of more than 120 electric buses and dozens of new garbage trucks.

Addressing residents of St Lucy specifically, Prime Minister Mottley said the government did not make idle promises on water issues. She said water mains were being replaced new filters installed and conditions had already begun to improve though the work was still in progress.

The Prime Minister placed the campaign in a wider global context saying the world is now facing climate shocks, economic uncertainty and geopolitical instability. She said Barbados must remain independent capable and strong enough to chart its own course in an increasingly unpredictable world.

She told supporters that the upcoming election is not about slogans but about the future of the country. She asked Barbadians to grant the government permission to continue the mission started in 2018 and said that permission would be given at the polls in three weeks.

Prime Minister Mottley said the Barbados Labour Party has never claimed perfection but has consistently acted in the interests of the people. She said the party has shown that it sees feels and hears Barbadians and remains committed to lifting the most vulnerable while building a stronger more resilient nation.