Together Gibraltar says that the latest press statement by Government on the Parking meter debate is an “annoyingly long and tedious mix of lies, cheap spin, political faux-pas and embarrassing, counter intuitive logic.”

A statement continued:

“They use the standard GSLP argumentation, namely that TG leader Marlene Hassan-Nahon is too stupid to understand anything, that TG are populist (and now also immature), and the completely ludicrous argument that all the machines were working (except three) at the time the questions were answered in Parliament, but broke down immediately after (the experiment took place three days after Minister Balban’s intervention in Parliament.

“The CM’s argument that the Minister is not responsible for the answers he provides in Parliament, but instead that the civil servant responsible is, deserves special mention all on its own. TG will not play the Mr. Picardo’s shameful game of questioning anyone’s intelligence, but these arguments are, at the very least, a show of disrespect to every single one of the people of Gibraltar. As the CM knows full well, Ministers bear all the political responsibility for the answers they give in Parliament, as well as for the work of all the civil servants under their control, and to argue otherwise is to insult the intelligence of the people of Gibraltar.

“By the way, TG wonders whether anyone in the Civil Service is still falling for the constant, empty flattery of a Government that is cutting and privatising from right under their feet?

“Government and the Ministry for Transport should stop embarrassing themselves with these absurd attempts at spinning the blame, and accept a reality that is well known by all Gibraltarians. That the parking meter system is an embarrassing shambles and has been so pretty much since the day it was installed. Most of the machines don’t work, and when they do they are difficult and slow. That the emergency number provided to try to alleviate this is a true “chapuza” of a fix that doesn’t work, and that this reality creates constant problems to our people and has a very negative impact on the experience of tourists driving into Gibraltar.

“The people of Gibraltar are tired of seeing the Government avoid their responsibilities by resorting to cheap spin and demagoguery. More fixing problems, and less embarrassing press releases.”