JLP Rally | 'Do you prefer 30 patties or 53 patties?' Vernon asks JLP mass rally
Published:Sunday | August 24, 2025 | 9:12 PM
Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon is asserting that Jamaica cannot afford to take backward steps in terms of development, and therefore Jamaicans should choose the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) when the general election takes place on September 3.
Addressing the JLP's mass rally, which is currently under way in Montego Bay's Sam Sharpe Square in St James, Vernon took a swing at assertions previously made by the People's National Party's Ian Hayles, the caretaker for Westmoreland Western, regarding the cost of patties under the two parties' administrations, in illustrating the gains made under the current JLP government.
"A PNP representative in Westmoreland said that under the PNP, a patty cost $200, and under the JLP, the same patty cost $300. But I want to remind him that under the PNP, minimum wage was $6,000, and the average Jamaican could only afford 30 patties, but today, minimum wage is $16,000, so that same Jamaican can afford 53 patties. Do you prefer 30 patties or 53 patties?" Vernon asked the eager crowd.
He also pointed to the ongoing Montego Bay Perimeter Road project, along with youth employment initiatives and the overseas work programme as examples of what the JLP has been doing for Jamaica's benefit.
"Why would we look back to the party of doom? We will not look back...major crimes are down, murder is down, and poverty is down. Jamaica cannot afford to go backward," Vernon continued.
- Christopher Thomas
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