May 30 - GSD to Contest By-Election
The Executive of the GSD met yesterday evening to consider the 4th July 2013 by-election. They released a statement today reading:
The overwhelming majority of the GSD Executive voted in favour of fielding of a candidate for the by-election.
Although it is true that this by-election arises in the context of the sad death of Mr Charles Bruzon, it is important in a mature democracy that the GSD Opposition provides the electorate with an opportunity to make a statement about the political performance of the Government on a number of important issues for this community.
The result of the by-election will not bring a change of Government, but it allows the electorate to think carefully about these issues and, through their vote, force the Government to change course before it is too late. These issues include:
(a) The rising levels of unemployment and the opaque practices emanating from the ETB, which not only stifle businesses but also the ability of ordinary people to better themselves. For example, we believe it is fundamentally wrong for the ETB to refuse local residents who are already employed in the private sector, access to job vacancies simply because the Government decides that those vacancies should only be open to the registered unemployed.
(b) The way in which hundreds of young people were duped at the last general election into believing that the Future Job Strategy (FJS) would involve worthwhile training with a guarantee of a job in a Government owned company, when the reality is that hundreds now find themselves ‘parked’ in a scheme without any real training and in a situation that is so artificial that it has the Government scrambling to help its own supporters to create companies with public contracts to take them on.
(c) The huge uncertainty that this community faces as a consequence of some of the decisions taken by the Government through sheer lack of judgment, including both their handling of the fishing dispute which has achieved nothing except record incursions into our waters, or the plans to expand the services offered by the Gibraltar Savings Bank despite the local industry’s concern and at a time when head offices of local banks were conducting their own reviews of their international operations.
(d) Whether people can trust a Government that conducted their election campaign in 2011 on the basis of, what we in the GSD have described as the Big Lie, namely stating that our public finances were in a ruinous state when it is obvious from the many promises made at the general election and just before this by-election, that this is simply not true.
(e) Whether people can trust a Government that conducted their election campaign in 2011 on the basis of, what we in the GSD have described as the Big Lie, namely stating that our public finances were in a ruinous state when it is obvious from the many promises made at the general election and just before this by-election, that this is simply not true.
(f) The way in which this Government, despite its transparency and accountability rhetoric, habitually chooses to close the shutters on the Opposition every time we ask inconvenient questions.
(g) The way in which the Government chooses to renege on their electoral promises by simply blaming the GSD or justifying their actions by saying the GSD Government did the same.
(h) The way in which the Government appears to be more interested in spin and photographs rather than having a coherent strategy for Gibraltar or if there is a strategy it belongs to the Minister for Employment and not the Chief Minister of Gibraltar.
The GSD is the only credible alternative to the Government and the only party capable of continuing to hold the Government to account.
In addition, we will, during this by election, continue with our message on “the politics of responsibility” which the Leader of the Opposition has repeatedly articulated. We need to ensure that we in live in a community where people get by and where rewards are based on merit and hard work not political allegiances, and that we are prepared to face down the “a mi me pretence culture” fuelled by undeliverable promises at election time. It is very easy, as the GSLP-Liberals have done, to say yes to everything and to everyone, to be all things to all men and to create expectations which cannot be delivered and which are not in the best interests of this community.
Although this is a by-election and not a general election, it is the people’s opportunity to have their say on the Government’s performance and the two different visions for Gibraltar.
Any member of the GSD wishing to put their name forward as a prospective candidate should do so by writing to the Chairman of the GSD at GSD HQ by noon on Wednesday 5 June.
