Mar 21 - Government: Opposition Have Been Briefed On Brexit Nine Times
The Government says it is “astonished” at both the tone and the content of the Opposition’s views on the details of our departure from the European Union as expressed at yesterday’s GSD press conference.
A spokesperson said: “The Opposition do themselves no favours by choosing to play politics with a matter which is ongoing and which is of fundamental importance both to Gibraltar and indeed to the United Kingdom itself.
“The astonishment of the Government is compounded by the fact that the Opposition have not only been fully briefed but have been kept abreast of developments in minute detail by the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, who is the Minister for responsible for work related to Exiting the European Union. The Opposition briefings have been based on the same information that has been shared with the Cabinet.
“In fact, the Opposition have been briefed confidentially seven times since the Select Committee on Brexit was established last year. This year alone it has been briefed on 15 January, 13 February, 19 February and the latest briefing was this month on 6 March barely a fortnight ago.
“In addition to this, the Leader of the GSD has himself been briefed separately two times.
“It is true that the last time Mr Azopardi was last briefed directly on 16 January this year. This is because a procedure was agreed whereby the GSD Members on the Select Committee would themselves brief Mr Azopardi in order to avoid duplicate briefings. The difficulty is that Mr Azopardi cannot attend confidential briefings to the Select Committee because he is not an elected Member of Parliament.
“The briefings to the Committee have been held in a positive, friendly and constructive atmosphere on the basis of full disclosure – so that Members know what the Government knows. Moreover, the opportunity has been provided for feedback and for Members to put across their own views to the Government and to alert the Government to any potential issues. The reality is that the atmosphere between the Government, the GSD Members and the two Independent Members, who are also briefed, has actually been very good and it is regrettable that Mr Azopardi should now come along to spoil this unity across Parliament.
“The Opposition therefore know full well what the objectives of the Government are, where the Gibraltar Government is going and what it is prepared to negotiate and for what. They already know all the answers to their own questions!”
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