Jul 23 - Daniel Feetham Responds To Adolfo Canepa's Ruling In Parliament
Leader of the Opposition, Daniel Feetham, has responded to Speaker of the Parliament, Adolfo Canepa's ruling made in Parliament yesterday afternoon.
The full statement is below:
Over the last three years I have tried to discharge my duties as Leader of the Opposition in a robust but fair way. I may not always have got it right but I have never gone out of my way to destroy the reputation of a political opponent or make politics unnecessarily acrimonious.
It is true that I have never hid my head below the political parapet and I have led on most of the issues on which we have been most active in holding the Government to account. The public finances, LNG power supply, fishing with nets, the Europa Point stadium have all been the subject of intense political debate but that is only normal.
However I do believe that the fact that I have led on many of these issues has made me a target of a very intense political campaign to discredit me and destroy my reputation. That has never fazed me. I have not in return tried to personalize politics or destroy anyone's reputation in the process. Politics has not become acrimonious because of any thing I have done beyond what any reasonably Leader of the Opposition would have done.
In my view what happened during the Budget went beyond what is acceptable in parliamentary proceedings. With Parliamentary privilege comes huge responsibility too. A member of parliament should not be allowed to falsely call someone a criminal without a shred of evidence because he is protected by Parliamentary privilege and cannot be sued.
I have no desire to get embroiled in legal proceedings. I want to get on with the business of serving the people of Gibraltar to the best of my ability.
In my statements about what the Chief Minister said in parliament, I have simply asked the Chief Minister to either withdraw them or defend them outside the House on the basis of their truth and rely on parliamentary privilege.
On behalf of my party I want people to know that whatever attempts are made to discredit me and destroy my reputation, the GSD and I intend to continue to focus on the important issues.
Politics may be a bearpit at times but it does not have to be a cesspit and it will not be turned into one by anything the Opposition does.
{fcomment}
