UPP Leader Jamale Pringle

Pringle Reaffirms Duty-Free Vehicle Plan, Says No More ‘Begging a Minister’ for Concessions

Leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP) Jamale Pringle has doubled down on his party’s promise to eliminate import duties on personal vehicles, repeating the pledge days after first announcing it at the party’s campaign launch.

Addressing supporters at a rally on Tuesday evening, Pringle made clear that the policy remains central to the UPP’s platform, despite criticism and public debate since it was unveiled.

“Let me be clear… the United Progressive Party will bring relief to struggling families and to ambitious young people by eliminating the import duty on vehicles,” he said.

He framed the proposal as a direct response to cost-of-living pressures, arguing that thousands of dollars currently paid in duties place an unnecessary burden on households.

Pringle also used the platform to criticise the existing system of duty-free concessions, which he said forces citizens to rely on political access rather than transparent policy.

“The United Progressive Party will rid Antigua and Barbuda of the policy… that cause individuals to go begging for a duty free,” he said.

He added that under a UPP administration, access to duty-free concessions would no longer depend on political affiliation or ministerial approval.

“We are leveling the playing field and making sure that every person in Antigua and Barbuda can get duty free without going to a minister,” Pringle told supporters.

The proposal, first introduced at the party’s campaign launch, has become one of the most prominent and debated elements of the UPP’s economic platform.

Pringle also rejected suggestions that the policy would require the reintroduction of personal income tax, dismissing such claims as false.

“The United Progressive Party administration will not reintroduce personal income tax,” he said, adding that the party would not “give to you with one hand and take it away with the other.”

The duty-free vehicle policy forms part of a wider slate of measures aimed at reducing living costs and addressing what the UPP describes as inequities in the distribution of government concessions.

Pringle said the initiative is intended to ensure that economic benefits are accessible to all citizens, rather than limited to a select group.