UPP Launches Campaign Website with Diaspora Portfolio, $20,000 Business Grants and 2,000 Youth Land Plots Among New Election Promises

The United Progressive Party (UPP) has launched its 2026 campaign website featuring its expanded manifesto platform which pledges to create a dedicated Diaspora Affairs portfolio within the Office of the Prime Minister, five annual business grants of 20,000 dollars, and a youth land distribution programme targeting 2,000 plots for citizens aged 35 and under during the party’s first term in office.

The digital launch comes as the party intensifies its campaign ahead of the April 30 General Election, with Political Leader Jamale Pringle presenting what the party describes as a comprehensive blueprint for the country.

The website consolidates the party’s fifteen-pillar People’s Platform alongside additional commitments aimed at nationals at home and abroad.

“It gives me great pleasure to present to you the United Progressive Party’s pillars, 2026, which we hope will inform your decision on April 30, General Election Day and guide our promise of a government that works for you,” Pringle said in his message on the site.

Among the latest proposals by the opposition, the UPP said it will establish a dedicated Diaspora Affairs portfolio housed within the Office of the Prime Minister, creating a one-stop shop for nationals abroad, partnering with stakeholders to develop a Retirement Village, and reestablishing the Independence Homecoming Festival.

On business and economic development, the party is proposing five annual grants of 20,000 dollars for competitive business ideas, alongside the revival and recapitalisation of the Antigua and Barbuda Development Bank. The platform also commits to convening the Chamber of Commerce and Employers Federation within the first seven working days of taking office for a week of consultations with industry leaders.

The party has set a target of reducing youth unemployment to below 10 percent by the end of its first term, alongside the repeal of the Entertainment Tax.

In 2024, the government the Antigua and Barbuda Sales Tax (ABST) Act which saw ticketed, paid entrance, and club/bar events subject to 17% ABST rate.

Meanwhile, the UPP said it will pursue constitutional reforms to allow nationals with dual citizenship to be able to seek electoral office, establish fixed-date five-year electoral terms, and legislation guaranteeing the right of public servants to return to their posts after unsuccessful electoral bids.