Aug 24 - Hammond And GSD “Back To Exaggeration And Scaremongering” – Number Six
− "Mr Hammond seems not to be happy unless he is frightening people," says the Chief Minister
Number Six says that, despite the Government having continued to work on the LNG facility now signed with Shell, the GSD has not mentioned the issue of the facility since it lost the election in November last year. The Government says that the “issue that they so mercilessly tried to exploit by raising public fear” was abandoned by them the day that Mr Feetham and Mr Hammond “sunk to the worst electoral defeat in a two horse race in the history of democracy in Gibraltar.”
Number Six says that only now, once the Government has announced the signing of the LNG deal with a company “with an excellent safety record in respect of LNG”, the GSD are back in "frightening mode."
A statement continued: “The Opposition criticises the Government for keeping LNG matters out of the public eye. Was he not in Gibraltar for the two public exhibitions? Was he not aware of the Health & Safety Laboratory’s meetings with the ESG and GONHS, or their meetings with the representatives of Waterport terraces? Did he not receive his own copy of Shell’s information booklet? Surely he was there for the GSD’s meeting with HSL? And surely, Mr Hammond heard the speeches of Ministers in the Parliament in his presence dealing with progress on the LNG plant. It is incredible therefore that Mr Hammond should think he is able to pull the wool over people's eyes pretending the Government has somehow tried to keep the LNG project out of the public eye when this is a project Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar is hugely proud of.”
The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said: "Mr Hammond seems to have returned to his irresponsible ways of last year. He seems not to be happy unless he is frightening people. To suggest, as he does now, that the Government is gambling with the health of Gibraltar’s economy is offensive: to suggest that the Government is gambling with anyone’s life is outrageous and utterly disgraceful. Frankly I think the public deserve better than an opposition with no experience whatsoever that behaves as if its job is just to alarm, scare and frighten people. We will continue our responsible work with Shell on this excellent and exciting project which is good for air quality, is good for our energy security and is good for our long term economic goals. We will let the GSD continue to be the champions of Grimy, Smelly Diesel."
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