Jul 17 - Government Say Opposition “Do Not Understand Public Finances Or Parliamentary Procedures”
The Government has replied to yesterday’s GSD statement on the Sunborn:
In their latest statement on Sunborn issues, the Opposition have shown not only that they have no understanding of public finances but that they do not even have a basic grasp of the rules and procedures of our Parliamentary democracy.
The Government totally rejects the accusation that the Chief Minister and the Minister for Employment have misled Parliament in any way in relation to the answers that were provided to the Opposition over the Sunborn. The inescapable reality is that the Government have answered the questions that were asked. The Opposition have only themselves to blame for their own incompetent failure to ask the right questions.
It is common practice in western Parliamentary democracies to answer the questions that are asked. Indeed, this is also the practice in Gibraltar and it was something that the GSD themselves did frequently when they were in Government. Mr Feetham is therefore now complaining about something that the GSD used to do when in Government!
Moreover, the Opposition should know that the activities of the Government's trading companies, have never been discussed or debated in Parliament other than in budget speeches. Only the cash balances advanced to them have been shown in the estimates.
It was only after the new Government came into office on 9 December 2011 that the income and expenditure of the Government-owned trading companies were properly adjusted in the estimates and the then accumulated trading losses of £28 million required to meet their recurrent expenditure came to be properly reflected.
This did not happen under the previous administration and these company losses were conveniently hidden away from public scrutiny.
It is obvious that Mr Feetham's motivation in writing to the Speaker on this matter is little more than a publicity-seeking exercise. He should know that if he wants to accuse anyone of misleading Parliament there is an option open to him and this is not it.
The actions of the Opposition show the level of desperation that they have sunk to whereby they need to tarnish everything that the Government has done in the last eighteen months. They should have learnt from their stinging by-election defeat earlier this month that the electorate is on a different wavelength. Mr Feetham and the GSD have clearly learnt nothing and, disgracefully, they seem to be wishing a financial crisis on Gibraltar for their own partisan ends. The GSLP/Liberal Government’s prudent financial management will ensure that Gibraltar’s public finances remain buoyant whilst securing the safety of all deposits in the Gibraltar Savings Bank, despite Mr Feetham’s disgraceful attempts to create unfounded concerns about them.
