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Elliott Phillips' Budget Speech 2021

Here’s the full text of Elliott Phillips' Budget speech:

Mr Speaker,

One aspect of housekeeping Mr Speaker; I thank the CM for and advance copy of Minister Balban's speech and wish him a speedy return to his Ministry. We welcome the former former reinstated Minister of Transport and hopefully he will do a better job than his predecessor let's see…..

 

It is an honour to contribute to the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill in relation to areas within my shadow responsibility. Before I commence my main contribution to the debate, I think that it is right that we take some time to reflect on the human impact of Covid 19 pandemic and in that regard I associate myself with the comments of the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the House and the Minister for Health.

 

We have lost 94 Gibraltarians to this horrible virus. We hope that our successful vaccination programme together with a cautious but realistic approach to the way in which we interact with one another will avoid large numbers of hospitalisations and further death and grief. Alas the numbers appear to have increased and so with that the prospects of further of hospitalisation. Our thoughts must be with those in hospital, their families and our health warriors who are on the front line in treating those that have succumbed to the virus.    

 

Each one of the 94 souls we have lost has contributed in one way or another to what makes our community special, and it is my hope that at the appropriate time that we are able mark this moment in our history and remember those of our number who we have been lost to the disease.  Each one of those lives lost is a tragic story of loss and this House grieves alongside the families. Tragic as the loss of life has been to this cruel disease, we must collectively condition ourselves to living with Covid, the disease is amongst us, and it is here to stay.

 

As I Shadow Health it is right that we also recall all of those on the front line who have battled against Covid from our domestic cleaning staff, our health care warriors, elderly residential services, the care agency and deployed public servants. The list of those making a contribution in the private and public sector is probably endless therefore it is right to remark on the collective effort of all of our citizens in the fight against Covid. I know that before this House breaks for the summer we will debate bestowing Gibraltar's highest honour on the GHA which will recognise in perpetuity the work done by the many healthcare and ancillary workers in the fight against Covid. It is also right that we publicly thank the British Government, the Ministry of Defence and our winged heroes, the Royal Air Force, who have delivered the vaccines at pace in order for the GHA to get as many vaccines as possible into the arms of our people and our cross border work force. 

 

As has been remarked by the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Minister the onset of Covid in our community allowed us on different sides of the House to put aside our differences and disagreements so as to work together in the national interest.  It was an important moment for the people of our community to see both the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition united at a press conference, to provide reassurance to the community that when the chips were down we purposely put aside our differences aside with the sole objective of saving lives and protecting the GHA. From my perspective it is right that both Leaders of our community be applauded for their focus and determination in this regard.  Now that we appear to be past the worst affects of the virus and our hospital numbers appear at this stage to be within controllable limits the cut and thrust of political debate has returned and whilst we as an Opposition will always work together with the Government when the national interest dictates the people require strong and robust opposition and most importantly when it comes to the spending of the peoples money. 

 

Covid 19 has been an eye opener to the way in which our community is governed from the way in which our parliament functions to third world traffic and transport policy, from the crisis with the GHA, the failed strategy on mental health provision and the abysmal handling of the environment  and its false commitment to a greener and child friendly city which I will come to in due course. 

 

MR SPEAKER 

This is the first time that members on this side of the House will have the opportunity to attempt to scrutinise the finances of our community and hold the Government to account in relation to their management of our affairs over the last two years given the inability to hold a normal budget session

 

This debate is often described as the state of the nation address and  inevitably becomes a politically charged event because of the long-held positions of the main political parties represented in this House.  My Hon and Learned friend the LOTO and my Hon friend Mr Clinton have very ably and properly repeated our long-standing position in their reflections of the numbers contained in the book and I support everything they have stated in their respective contributions.  That said whilst it is no doubt important to reflect on the global events that have affected economies around the world the Government we must resist the temptation of placing the blame of all our domestic woes at the foot of Covid 19's door. That is wrong and it does not avail the Chief Minister of a defence to his decade long spending spree. Covid has of course been enormous challenge to our way of life, it has taken the lives of our people it has severely curtailed our civil liberties and it has forced us all to reflect on what is important to us all.  The Covid 19 pandemic has seen our people come together to fight the disease but it has also exposed deep cracks and fault lines in how our health care system is managed and delivered. The responsibility for those cracks and fault lines rests with the Government and the Government alone. 

 

Our job of this side of the House is to ensure that these fault lines are exposed in an open and transparent way so that we can have an honest and genuine conversation as to how we can improve the delivery of health and care services to our community by putting efficiency and value for money front centre. The GHA, as a treasured institution and is must be protected, preserved and allowed to manage itself devoid of Ministerial interference in the minutiae of the day to day running of a health service. 

 

The expectation on the GHA by the public is extremely high as is the cost of delivering the service to our community. It is likely that we will continue to require the services of tertiary providers based in Spain and/or the United Kingdom in order to plug the services gap. It is clear to me that Covid or no Covid the costs of providing the level of health care that meets the expectations of our community are eye watering on any analysis and we must ensure that we can obtain the best possible value for money whilst preserving and improving the quality of care received by our citizens. The Leader of the Opposition spoke about controls and the Value for Money and after hearing the contribution by the Chief Minister yesterday it is clear to me given the absence of those words in his one thousand paragraph speech that war on wastage and weeding out inefficiencies in the GHA has long been abandoned by the party in Government. 

MR SPEAKER 

During the Chief Minister's acceptance speech on the morning of the General Election in 2019 he proclaimed an end to the age of entitlement and the birth of the age of responsibility. One could be forgiven to think that the CM was reading from the Book of the GSD but it is clear to all that he must have tacitly accepted the fact that his giveaway elections and spending like there was no tomorrow was gross mistake on his part. We placed down a marker and warning to the Chief Minister that his addiction to debt and the spending on vanity projects would come back to bite him and bite him hard. We warned him of the perfect storm which has been compounded by the Covid 19 crisis did he listen no instead he spent years and years and over £750M fuelling the age of entitlement not realising that the hunger for handouts and jobs for the boys and party faithful had got way out of hand.  From lavish VVIP parties at the multi-million pound GMF, to multi-million pound rebuilding of Picardo's Palace at No6 inclusive of White House style war bunker to election give away the Chief Minister now needs to rely on the generosity of foundations and charities to pay for the refurbishment of this House,  the home of our democracy and banks to pay for the inefficient spending of £3.88 million on a small triangular park at Midtown.   

 

On what of the rest MR SPEAKER well the good old Gibraltar hard working  Gibraltarian public the silent majority will now need to pay for his decade of overspend and the creation of a mountain debt to rival the dizzy heights of Picardo's Peak (rubble mountain) at Easter beach and with the skills of a second hand care salesman he spins it by talking about a small contraction in GDP and Gib's GDP per the highest on the plant according to the IMF.

 

Whilst I know that he will never admit to his mistakes (save for his apology over LWR) his acceptance age of responsibility after his 10 years spending splurge and his adoption of GSD policy is welcome. We all know what his retort will be know doubt he will mention the Theatre Royal and the airport and point fingers at the GSD's time in office. He will also ask us to select which projects they shouldn’t have done and which school they shouldn’t have built but this is not what this debate is about this debate is about how the have structured way over a £1.7 billion pounds off the book debt for our children and children who will need to pay back for the generation of debt created by him. The CM now penalises the less well off with social security hikes and electricity increases.

 

MR SPEAKER 

We have always been the party which has been financially prudent and reasonable with the tax payers' money and a party that prioritises the spending of the public money. The members of the party opposite have always preferred to spend, spend, spend and we continue to see the results of years of reckless spending which has dominated their time in office. This is what sets us a part from the GSLP Liberal Alliance.  Much can be said of the former GSD administration some of which I didn’t agree with but what it had at its core was financial independence, prudence and stability which the Chief Ministers and his cheerleaders have chipped away at for years and this is ultimately why we vote year on year against the budget and we will do again this year.  

 

MR SPEAKER turning to my shadow for health:

 

HEALTH 

 

The Gibraltar Health Authority is by country mile the largest area of Government spending and when you throw in our response to Covid the costs of the GHA is astronomical. The costs of running the GHA over the last two years nearly reached £300 Million pounds. This year the cost has been estimated at £131 odd Million. Whilst these are very big numbers on any analysis, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that even before Covid hit the Government were acutely aware of the financial crisis within GHA and this has been magnified in the context of the public health emergency. The Minister for Health's conversion to efficiency in her contribution today is a simple rewind and reply of predecessor said in 2017. I will know move to demonstrate this.

MR SPEAKER 

As a reference point in 2017 the former Minister for Health and Justice effectively, declared a war on waste within the GHA.  The Government announced a number of measures to "tighten financial controls". The former Minister for Health stated mantra was "increased patient care at better value for money". The Government at the time procured the services of PWC UK (no less) to assist in developing robust financial governance and the Government committed to delivering better control and financial balance. We were told that the Government was to make changes to procurement processes with great oversight in respect of staggering sponsored patient costs. The Government clearly wanted to tighten controls, have better  governance and financial balance. The question to the current Minister for Health and indeed the Chief Minister is what are the results of the report where have you tightened financial controls and how have you developed robust financial governance? This in part appears to be in train given that the new Minister has established a strategic committee on efficiency and management. 

 

Back in 2017 the Government referred to the year on year increases to the sponsored patient scheme as staggering and stating that it had increased a staggering 400% since the GSLP Liberals had arrived at No6. In the year when that statement was made namely  2017/2018 the actual figure for sponsored patients was £12.7 Million pounds, the figure in 2018/2019 was £11.4 Million and for the last two years the outturn is £33.6 Million or £16.5 Million per year. The Estimate for 2021/2022 appears to be £13.5 Million. It is clear that the former Minister was attempting to take back control and ensure that the public was receiving better value for money. On a simple analysis of the figures, it is clear that the repatriation policy, the drive to improve efficiencies the war on wastage has not been successful.  In relation to some of the headline figures,  prescriptions, drugs and pharmaceuticals we are spending a staggering £21.5 Million (£36M odd for 2019/2021 alone). Our recruitment expenses for 2019/2021 amount to just shy of £3M which shows the very high turnover of staff within the service. The amount paid out by the GHA in compensation and legal costs for litigation against the GHA for 2019/2021 was a staggering £2.4M.  

 

MR SPEAKER

These are just a few examples of the costs of the GHA to the public and whilst it is rightly one of treasured institution, it would appear that the Government has long abandoned its policy and war of wastage and inefficiencies within the GHA. They have lost budgetary control of the GHA and it is in crisis.  Yesterday we heard from the Minister of Public Health in relation to getting down the collective weight of our homeland given the worrying incidence of disease related to poor nutrition and a lack of exercise. I agree with him as a matter of principle but whilst public health has been focused on COVID 19 this is not some novel public health message. The way in which you drive down the cost of health care is by positively encouraging active lives discouraging poor nutrition increasingly health and welling being amongst our children the Governments lack of commitment is clear by the fact that the last GHA Health and lifestyle report was from 2014-15 some 6 years ago. Whilst the Chief Minister was fuelling the appetite for entitlement there has been a distinct and worrying lack of support for improving the health of our national by the Health and Public Health Ministers. 

 

MR SPEAKER putting aside the question of the astronomical cost of health care to our community when reviewing the book, it filled me with a deep sense of disappointment not to find a single mention within the book of the fabled mental health budget. As you will recall when Public Health England prepared its highly critical report on the provision of mental health services in Gibraltar, it was absolutely scathing of the Government for failing to provide a specific head for mental health. 

 

MR SPEAKER you will recall that this was the report that was sat idle on the desk of the Minister for two years before they sought fit to publish it. I suspect that the same treatment would be afforded the PWC UK audit of the GHA.  

 

The failure to provide for a mental health budget in this book is to perpetuate the stigma of mental health and reinforce the widely held view that the Government is failing our people in the provision of mental health in our community. Put more simply, the conduct of the Government and the failing to heed the criticism of Public Health England, it is to ignore the cries from families who have lost young men to suicide, it is to disrespect the memory of those who have died because they lost hope and didn’t have the support from mental services that they should have had as a modern progressive community have. The failure to provide for a definitive mental health budget fails to heed the warnings of all mental health charities who day in day out repeat their concerns about mental health provision.  Critically this budget fails to address the mental health provision deficit in our community and given the particular focus of mental health its absence given this year in particular is unforgivable. 

 

The evidence for the lack of support is within the pages of this book and it is particularly revealing that at page 214 namely the GHA Establishment on the last line, that the Government do not intend on replacing the Consultant Clinical Psychologist- so now we see MR SPEAKER the years of abuse and mismanagement of our public finances we cannot replace a key and critical role within our mental health services. This is a scandalous discovery which the Government are attempting to remedy by the provision at page 216 of the book for 2 new supernumerary posts which fail to support continuity of care for the most vulnerable in our community. The sheer lack of understanding or ignorance of the scale of the mental health problem amongst the Government is staggering. MR SPEAKER even after receiving one of the most damning reports in our history which they sat on for 2 years before they published they don’t event take into account its most critical findings.   

MR SPEAKER

Moving to another scandal or damning report namely the disclosure in this House of the Professor Burke letter- MR SPEAKER it is clear whatever you make of that letter that there is something systemically wrong in the management of the GHA. For a very senior office holder to make serious accusations against a cabal of individuals within the GHA alluding to preventable deaths with the GHA is irrespective of the accuracy of the statements should provide everyone in this House with a serious degree of concern about how the GHA is operating and the abject failure of the Government to resolve issues with the GHA. In summary MR SPEAKER and whilst we have come together at the worst of times in living history, we have also exposed serious failings by the Government in leadership at the GHA and putting mental health strategy front and centre. 

 

Whilst Covid has clearly put a strain on the health service we have had serious concern about how services are being restored. We obviously understand the pause to routine, clinical and consultation services. However, there have been huge delays in relation to Cervical Screening, dental appointments for children appear to be non-existent, the primary care appointment system has come under serious strain, cancelled and delayed surgical interventions and there is still no clarity about the provision of MRI services. 

 

In summary MR SPEAKER the GHA has faced arguably the biggest challenge in its history with COVID but there is a crisis in healthcare that goes beyond Covid and its needs to be remedied.  I feel at times that we scratch the surface of the GHA in this place and given that it is the largest single costs to the taxpayers, the professionals within the service deserve better, patients deserve better and the public deserve efficiency and value for money and not waste. 

 

THE ENVIRONMENT- GREEN GIBRALTAR/CHILD FRIENDLY CITY 

 

MR SPEAKER yesterday we were treated to a long introduction as to what the Mr Environment does and whilst he spent more time on his theatrical prowess he paid very little attention to climate change. Anyone listening to the debate must have thought that we have cleanest air and cleanest seas on earth and that we were all living in the Amazon rainforest. The spin and theatre around his contribution although impressive was too long and failed to convince any rational or objective observer or commentator about his commitment to the environment. Yesterday we were treated to a lot of hot air and very little substance or  ambitious plan. It was a vain and embarrassing reflection suitable for his memoirs which I am sure he is busy drafting and whilst he may be fond of the birds and the bees there was nothing in his speech that gave any reassurance whatsoever  to the people of our community as to real improvements to our environment and in particular the quality of the air we breathe. He spoke about the unprecedented level of legislation at the same time speaking about his frustrating and disappointment about failure to deliver a sewage plant which was in his manifesto a decade ago! 

 

This  year we were treated to the revelation that this small triangle outside midtown had originally cost the taxpayer  £3.88 Million pounds or to put it another way the cost of 2 consultant clinical psychologists for 14 years. Or a team of mental health professionals for a decade- the book still has it accounted for. The Chief Minister now says that Trusted Novus will be paying for the costs and the tax payer will not be burdened with the cost What an incredible belated disclosure MR SPEAKER. So a Bank has to bail out the Government for its inefficient building of a mostly concrete park. What bank donates nearly £4M pounds for a concrete triangle? MR SPEAKER what does it say about a Government who goes wildly over budget to allow for a Bank to step in and bail them out MR SPEAKER. It is a classic examples of GSLP Liberal mismanagement of the peoples money. 

 

The question remains why shouldn’t the developer of Midtown have paid for the park? Surely a developer who wishes to build luxury flats and top end commercial property be required to put something back into our community by way of planning gain. It seems to me that all the Government want to do is fill the pockets of rich developers who have already had their fill off the backs of working men and women and the ordinary tax payer of this community. 

 

MR SPEAKER- Gibraltar has very poor air quality affecting the health of all in our community and nothing is being done about it (the levels of asthma and related lung disease are staggering) MR SPEAKER, hang on yes they did introduce a scheme to encourage new car purchasing, well there's an example of hypocrisy, the message to the public buy a new car  your old car will be taken off the street- they got it wrong and there has been no removal of older polluting cars from our streets, they have simply been sold on the second hand market increasing the number of cars on our streets. Who thought that one through MR SPEAKER?  No doubt MR ENVIORNMENT had a role to play in that one. 

 

MR SPEAKER MR ENVIRONMENT opposite or el jardinero as he is affectionately known tries to play to the gallery that he is somehow the only person able to save us from climate change and reduce emissions, nothing can be further from the truth Mr SPEAKER. he has done nothing in real terms in making improvement to our environment, the dockyard continues to pollute our air and conducts 24/hr working. 50cc motorcycles continue to plague our streets with noise and fumes with no prospect that the Government will take bold steps towards banning their use. Those that litter, dump and pollute our coastline indiscriminately with no real penalty or heavy sanction.  Concrete towers rise up with dust and noise pollution without the slightest consideration to our quality of life or planning and there is no resolution after 10 years to pumping raw sewage into our seas which he on behalf of the Government described as a nightmare in a recent interview on radio in which he to debate the issue with me- he refused to debate me. When we complained on these benches of the effect of thousands of cigarette buts on Harbour Views road ironically deposited in the main by health care workers on their break he passed regulations extending the smoke free zone- has he been down their recently it is effectively an ash tray and his regulations have been ignored. 

 

  1. MR SPEAKER the environment must be absolutely central and integral to all Government policy and the budget and for the Government to put this fundamental issue at the periphery given the key role it plays in our quality of life is a gross dereliction of their duty to future generations of Gibraltarians. The Government have failed to provide a safer, greener, cleaner and child friendly city as they promised and I will not stand idly by whilst the lungs of a generations of our people continue to be damaged by very poor air quality, noise pollution, concrete dust, black smoke and endless fumes from traffic. 

 

  1. MR SPEAKER when I speak with young people one of their main concerns is the environment and the Government simply pays lip service to the global move to changing the way we live our lives. Mr Speaker the Minister for the Environment is quoted as saying that "Our people elected the greenest Government in our history and possibly the greenest Government in Europe" Whilst MR ENVIRONMENT continues to allow for raw sewage to be pumped into our seas and to encourage 24hr working at the dock yard, black smoke from ships are indiscriminately releasing noxious fumes into our air, oil spills at sea, the list is endless. The statement that the people have elected the greenest Government in Europe is the most laughable statement the Minister has ever given. In 2016 the Minister said he would be ruthless about the environment but he has been a pussy cat defender of the environment. It was his Government who created the small boats' marina with 700 berths without the slightest mention of how he will offset the environmental impacts of 700 fuel laden boats pumping pollution into our seas. When he mentioned GibDock yesterday he did so in passing with no real view as to the environmental impact that this industry has on the health of our community- our community expects action.  The Minister talked about renewables when the only thing that the wave project could power was a kettle! Not one mention of wave energy in his speech. The Minister talked about the quality of water being excellent but has he been down to Eastern beach recently, metal fragments, concrete dust and building materials strewn around the place. How can he honest and genuinely come to this house and paint a rosy story of the way we live our lives which is so far removed from reality. 

 

  1. MR SPEAKER as we are speaking on the budget our focus when it comes to the environment must be on an important subject of sustainability and the circular economy, why can't we,  as a modern progressive country look at all the research available and lead on the circular economy in a real way instead of sitting on our hands and letting the rich get richer without a thought to how we can do things better that will have a real impact of the way all of our citizens prospers in a cleaner and sustainable way. 

 

Quality of life is important to the people of our community as is  the air that we breathe to use a great Gibraltarian song writer,  our waters and the way we use our land for development is so very important but the Government seem only interested in selling off land to developers without the slightest thought to our quality of life and how we want to see our community physically shaped over the next 50 years. 

 

  1. There is very little imagination, little enthusiasm and certainly no ambition that the Chief Minister focused on in his contribution yesterday and  when it comes to the environment all there is profit for developers and a mountain of debt. 

MOVING TO Traffic and transport another debacle

 

  1. MR SPEAKER what can I say apart from repeat the message retort by the Leader of the Opposition in which he made it abundantly clear to the then Minister for Transport namely Line Wall Road does not belong to the Government it belongs to the people and the people spoke clearly and unequivocally about the Ministers abject failure of the Government policy in this area. The CM was clear is his apology the Government got Line Wall Road and it appears clear that the present Minister is set to repeat the disastrous mistakes of his predecessor with his reduction of speed limits idea. 

 

  1. The Government have failed to provide a long term and sustainable transport system which balances the needs of the community and encourage greater uses of alternatives car and motorbike use. Nothing in the newly appointed transport minister does nothing to set out a detailed plan has to how he will achieve all of this. Again a lot of hot air no doubt all taught by his friend the Minister for the Environment.  The focus of cycling is admirable, but it will not work in the context of a lack of capacity in our roads to accommodate cycle lanes or segregate traffic in a safe and meaningful way. This is fully accepted by the Minister for Transport in his speech.  Our primary focus must be on promoting walking, improving footpaths and pavements and finding solutions which allow for pedestrian to cross roads with least impact on traffic flow as possible. We are told by the Government that we have a world class vaccination and testing programme and I for one cannot see why in a small country like ours we cannot provide our community with a world class clean public transport system that would take people out of their cars and move people around in a far more efficient and environmentally way.  People need to have confidence that our public transport will not let them down and it will deliver. We need increased number of buses, better routes, more technology which encourages both our residents to jump on public transport as opposed to continue to log jam our roads and pollute the air we breathe.  The Government presents no plan. 

 

MR SPEAKER the Government needs to actively encourage the purchase and use of electric motorcycles and disincentivise the use of fuels bikes - it fails to do either. The Minister's recent ill thought out and ill researched argument of lowering the speed limits in Gibraltar has been eminently dismantled by our Commissioner of Police who simply said it won't work and I agree.  Traffic offenders need education first and foremost and this, with a little imagination or ambition on the part of the Government and coupled with a well thought out approach with the Justice Ministry, may well deliver long term reductions of traffic offending. Compulsory Basic Training set out at page 21 of the Minister's speech simply doesn’t cut it- it needs to go further with a joined up initiative with the justice ministry to avoid clogging up our traffic courts.  The Government needs to do its homework when developing a sustainable traffic and transport policy, the last two, Line Wall Road and speed reduction have failed miserably and it is clear to all that they have failed to get a grip on the crisis in public transport and traffic management.  

 

The Chief Minister talked about world class sports facilities where Olympians and a world class vaccination programme but we have a third world transport and traffic policy which is a public embarrassment to residents and tourist alike. The Chief Minister talked about unpreceded growth in the economy but we cant event move our elderly from the frontier to the South District on buses. 

 

MR SPEAKER when raised the issue of the legal status of e-scooters the former minister couldn’t even confirm whether they were legal or illegal- that failure to understand the lawfulness of this activity is simply inexcusable. MR SPEAKER. No wonder he got the Chop from the Chief Minister. When you consider a report in the UK papers today which talks about a 3 year old child who was run over by an e scooter and now has life long disabilities means that we must take this seriously.   

 

MR SPEAKER the Governments main plank of their manifesto was to create a green and child friendly city but when you look at the book at page 181 and 182 there is ZERO provision numerous projects which would encourage walking, public transport and pedestrian safety. 

 

MR SPEAKER if we are serious about changing the way our people moving about our city and winning the argument that car use should be abandoned in favour of public transport we must instil confidence that our transport system plan is robust and serious. We must also carefully plan what we want our city to look like in 50 years. At the moment buildings are going up without the slightest thought as to how we want our community to look like and with an aging road and utilities infrastructure it is only a matter of time before we have to start digging up our roads again. 

 

MR SPEAKER before the former Minister of Transport was removed from his role as transport head he made a scathing assessment of the Sustainable traffic and transport plan said that he didn’t agree with all of it.  MR SPEAKER the cost of this plan is at page 180 subhead 4(ZQ). The plan has cost the tax payer some £1M since 2019 and will cost another £500K this year what on earth are we paying for if the former Minister said essentially that he didn’t agree with all of it?? MR SPEAKER there is zero confidence in Government traffic and transport policy.

 

MR SPEAKER in relation to drugs from a health perspective the worrying view of the COP yesterday this week that cocaine is rife within our community should send a sharp warning to the Government given the health and mental health implications of misusing this drug. On medicinal cannabis we look forward to consider the Bill when it is published. On Nitrous Oxide the Chief Minister and I have exchanged communications on this issue and the Government has restricted the importation of products containing nitrous oxide. The Government needs to consider putting legislation in place to stop the use of so called hippy crack which can have serious health implications.  

MR SPEAKER 

In summary I make 5 points:

The Green and child friendly city promised has been abandoned;

The War on Waste and inefficiencies in the GHA has been lost and there is a crisis in the management of GHA;

The Chief Minister has declared war on business and those less off than others through increases to social security and electricity;

We have a third world traffic and transport policy and the government has done more u turns in this policy area than any Gibraltar government in its history;

Action for poverty has described the budget that buries the poor.

The current position has not been caused by Covid 19 it is as a result of a decade of mismanagement, abuse and waste. 

 

Thank you MR SPEAKER