Sep 27 - Number Six: Public Will See Through “Desperate Opposition Gimmicks”
Number Six says that on the 9th September 2016, the Government answered Parliamentary questions tabled by the Opposition on the subject of the Redibikes scheme. The Government says that the answers provided to the Opposition were “accurate and true, were accepted by the House at the time, and are on the record in Hansard, which is publicly available.”
A statement continued: “The only ‘gimmick’ regarding the Redibikes scheme is being pedalled today by the Opposition in their desperate attempt to make political capital through a Press Release after their questions on the subject were fully answered in the House two and a half weeks ago.
“As was explained in Parliament, the Redibikes scheme has not yet been implemented due to new paving works being undertaken by a private entity on some of the land where the infrastructure for the scheme was to be situated. So whilst estimates that the scheme could be implemented by early 2016 were accurate and true at the time it was announced, this has been overtaken by the real-life complications and delays that may come with any major project, anywhere in the world. The Government is not, as the Opposition wrongly assert, engaged in negotiations to purchase land for the purposes of the Redibikes scheme.”
The Minister for Transport, Paul Balban, said: “It is inappropriate, immature and revealing of the GSD’s incompetence as an Opposition to issue a constant stream of Press Releases criticising Government policies just because they don’t like and refuse to accept the answers they receive in the appropriate forum, the Gibraltar Parliament.
“What is even worse is that the Opposition have deliberately lied to the public in this case. They were told in Parliament on 9th September, little over two weeks ago, that the Government is in ongoing discussions with a private company that is undertaking paving works. No allusion whatsoever was made to Government being engaged in negotiations to purchase land for the purposes of the Redibikes scheme, and a record of this is publicly available in Hansard. The Opposition are simply making things up and I am confident that the public will see through the real ‘gimmick’”.
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